


More than meets the eye

by wrestlingfanatic



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friendship, Love, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, coarse language, mention of mental abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-14 16:01:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 45
Words: 103,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7178735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrestlingfanatic/pseuds/wrestlingfanatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Seth Rollins is an asshole." Those were my exact thoughts the first time I met him. I hated him. I wanted to punch his stupid cocky face. For some reasons, he kept coming back into my life.  Then, we kind of became friends. Then, best friends. Then, we became more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Life’s a bitch. It really is. My boss is a dick and I have no interest in being here, but here I am anyway, interviewing another wrestler. He sent me to this WWE convention to get the latest news on what’s going on in the wrestling industry. I work for a sports magazine and as far as I’m concerned, wrestling is not a sport but a weird form of entertainment. Many will disagree with me but I don’t care. I never cared about anything others think anyway. My boss added this wrestling section in our magazine a couple of months ago and I have to admit that it’s working pretty well. People just love it. We’ve been covering all the important events since then and everybody at work was pleased with it except for me. In fact, I was happy with it until he asked me to do the interviews. I’m supposed to be in charge of the content and I’m the one giving the final approval on everything so why the hell am I here, asking dumb questions to those wrestlers? Because the girl that normally did the interviews decided to take off to Paris for a two months’ vacation and my boss decided that I would be the one replacing her until she comes back. If it was just for me, I would’ve replaced her with someone new, but Mandy was apparently very important for the company. I love my job, don’t get me wrong, but I really thought I was done with doing interviews and writing articles. I haven’t done that in two years and I was very happy with my life until my boss sent me to this convention in New York.

“Alright, I think I’m done.” I said as I closed the recording app on my phone.

Dolph Ziggler looked at me straight in the eyes and gave me what I suspect was his best smile. The guy was very handsome but there was something about him that was making me uncomfortable. He didn’t care about the interview and he made it pretty clear by asking me out right away. I hadn’t even asked my first question that he already wanted to know what I had planned for the night.

“You’re sure you don’t have any more questions?” he asked, smiling.

I was absolutely sure of it and all I wanted was to get the hell out of there. I wasn’t allowed to let him know how I felt about his flirty tone. The image of the magazine rested on my shoulder and I just had to stay polite with him, but he was annoying me so much. All I wanted was to tell him to go fuck himself but I’m not sure that my boss would appreciate it.

“So… you didn’t answer me earlier, what are your plans for the night?” he asked

“Getting back to the hotel and get to bed early.” I answered, hoping he would get the message.

“And you want company?”

He smiled at me and I have to admit that I almost fell for it. He was cute. In fact, he was hot. Really really hot, but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to.

“Hey Ziggler!” I heard a little further away from us. “Leave the poor girl alone.”

Nikki Bella, the girl that I interviewed earlier was coming to my rescue and I couldn’t be happier. As Dolph was snapping back at her, I sneak away and hide somewhere he couldn’t find me. I looked like an idiot but I didn’t care. I just needed air. I hated when guys were hitting on me. Any girl would love it, especially if the guy was as hot as Ziggler, but this whole flirting thing was making me uncomfortable.

“Was I dreaming or did Dolph Ziggler just tried to get in your pants.” I heard on my right, making me jump.

My heart was beating fast from the scare as I turn around to face my friend. Felix was standing beside me and he had a grin on his face. The kind of grin that I hated. The kind of grin he was always giving me when we were talking about guys hitting on me. Felix was my colleague and my best friend. We met back in high school and we never left each other since then. He was the brother that I never had and we were very close.

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” I said, laughing. “I’m not letting him get his hands on me.”

“I would.” he let out in a sigh.

People always questioned the relation Felix and I have. They never understood that we were just friends and that nothing will never ever happen between us. Everybody thought we were fuck friends and that rumor made us laugh so much. Felix was gay and he was really proud to be. Even if it took him a lot of time to accept it, he was now very comfortable in his own skin. A little too much sometimes. I hated it when people were picking on him back in high school because they thought he was so different. He was not. He was the most loveable human being in existence and he still was. He was the one keeping me sane.

“I don’t want to burst your bubble Fe’ but he’s not playing in your team.” I told him as I pat his shoulder in consolation.

“You’d be surprised honey, there isn’t a lot of people who could resist me.”

I frowned my eyebrows and shook my head. Like I said, too comfortable about his sexuality. Felix was hot. If he would’ve been into girls, I would’ve dated him any time. The guy knew how hot he was and he was convinced that everybody wanted him. Judging by the look all the girls and guys were giving him, I was forced to believe he was telling the truth.

“Are you done with your interviews?” I asked him to change the subject.

I didn’t want to talk about Ziggler anymore.

“I’ve got a couple more and then I’m done. What about you?”

“I have one left.”

“Who is it?”

“Hum, let met check…” I said as I took a list out of my back pocket. “It’s Seth Rollins.”

“Lucky you.”

Felix winked and walked away from me.

“Fe’ hold on!” I yelled. “I don’t know which one it is!”

I knew nothing about wrestling and I had no idea who was who. Yes, we had a section dedicated to WWE but I’ve never read it. Felix had been pointing out everyone for me since we arrived to the convention.

“Look for the belt!” he yelled back.

“Felix, get your ass back here, I need your help!” I yelled.

My friend was gone and he didn’t hear me. I was standing in the middle of the room with no idea who the guy I had to interview was. Everyone was looking at me as if I was crazy because I was yelling but I didn’t care. I took a look around me, trying to figure out who Seth Rollins would be. Felix said to look for the belt, but there was like a million of them everywhere. Alright, there were only six but that was enough for me to get confused. I spotted one big guy a little further away, thinking it might be him but then I remembered that I already talked to him so I knew he wasn’t the guy I was looking for. I looked for Felix but he was busy interviewing someone else so I couldn’t ask for his help. This whole thing was pissing me off and all I wanted to do was to get back to the hotel and forget about this crappy day but I knew my boss would get mad at me if I didn’t finish my job. I thought of taking my phone to Google his name when my eyes crossed paths with these beautiful big brown chocolate eyes. There was this guy at the other end of the room that was staring at me and his gaze was so intense that it took my breath away for a second. He had a belt on his shoulder and I immediately knew he was the guy that I was looking for.

“You’re Seth Rollins, right?” I asked as I walked toward him.

“They sent you to do the interview and you don’t even know who I am?” he said with an arrogant tone.

“Sorry, this place is crazy with all these people and I wasn’t sure…” I snapped back. “I’m Alison.”

“Yeah, this is a dangerous place for a little girl like you.” he said, interrupting me.

Coming from Dolph Ziggler, it would’ve been cute. Cheesy, but cute. Coming from Rollins, it was just mean. The guy was a jerk. I looked at him, speechless. His gaze was intimidating but I was not the kind of girl that would be impressed by it.

“Aren’t you suppose to ask me questions?” Seth asked.

I frowned my eyebrows and sighed heavily. I took out my phone out of my pockets and started the recorder. He was the last one. My last interview for the day and probably the last I would ever do. I looked at my questions and started asking them. Rollins was answering every one of them but he still had that arrogant tone that I hated. I was fuming on the inside and I wanted to punch him in the mouth. I was not in the mood, this day had been shitty and he was making it worse.

“Are you nervous about your big match tomorrow?” I asked after I looked at the question on my piece of paper.

“Me? Nervous?” he said, laughing. “Clearly you didn’t do any research on me before you prepared your questions. I never get nervous before a match. I’m the Man. I know what I’m doing.”

“Hold on a second.” I said as I turned off the recorder on my phone. “Off the record, I don’t care about you and your freaking match, OK? I’ve been asked to interview you and believe me, that’s the last thing I want to do right now, so would you please just answer my damn questions so that we could both move on with our lives?”

I was pissed. Seth looked at me, surprised. Clearly, he wasn’t used to people talking to him like that, but I didn’t care.

“Thank you.” I said as I turn the recorder back on.

I was about to ask my question again when Seth ripped the phone away from my hand. He turned off the recorder and looked at me.

“Off the record, you need this interview more than I do so I suggest you stay nice, little girl.”

“That’s it.” I snapped. “I’m out.”

I took my phone back and left. I couldn’t handle it. The anger in me was growing and I just had to get out of there.

“Hey, where are you going?” Seth yelled at me.

“Go fuck yourself!”

Screw him. Screw the magazine’s reputation. I didn’t give a damn about it. I wasn’t going to let a stupid wrestler talk to me like that. My boss was going to be pissed but I didn’t give a shit about that either. I was about to leave the room when I bumped into Felix.

“Good you’re here.”

“What’s going on? Are you OK?” he asked me.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I need you to finish the interview with Seth Rollins.” I said as I was heading outside.

Felix grabbed my arm and forced me to stop. He looked at me straight in the eyes with his concerned look. I couldn’t lie to him. I never could. He had a gift when it came to know when I wasn’t feeling good.

“Why? You didn’t find him?”

“Oh believe me, I did!” I said with a fake smile. “He’s an asshole and I’m not in the mood for that. I’m not a journalist for Christ’s sake. I’m supposed to be in charge of the content. I’m certainly not going to let some jackass dictate what I should or shouldn’t do.”

“Woah, what the hell did he say to you?” Felix asked.

I looked at my friend and shook my head. Maybe I was overreacting. Did Seth was that mean to me?

_Yes, he was_ , I thought.

“Please Fe’, just cover for me OK?”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m heading back to the hotel, I’ll catch up with you later!” I said as I headed outside. “Oh and don’t tell Bert about this!”

If my boss knew I asked Felix to cover for me again, he would be pissed. He’s always mad at me anyway but I didn’t want to give him another reason to be.


	2. Chapter 2

I let out a sigh when I finally reached my hotel room. I had booked a very beautiful suite at the top of the building and I was very happy with the way it looked. When my boss told me I had to come to New York for the wrestling convention, I was so pissed that I had booked one of the most expensive room. That’s what he got for warning me at the last minute. At least I wasn’t alone. I asked Bert if Felix could come with me and he agreed. He knew how it would piss me off to go alone. We didn’t share the room though, because with him, you never know what could happen. I didn’t want to come back one night and bumped into him and another random dude. Felix said the same thing about me but he knew that it wasn’t going to happen with me. I was not the random dude kind of girl.

The room was beautiful and it almost made me forget about the crappy day that I had. There was a gigantic bath tub right in the middle of the room and even though I thought it was a weird place for a bath, I couldn’t wait to get in it. I took off my boots and let them near the door. The floor was cold under my feet as I walked to the bed to put my bag on it. I started the bath and touched the water to find the right temperature. The water was so hot on my skin that it immediately turned pink, but that was exactly how I liked it. I quickly stripped off of my clothes and jumped into the bath even if it was not full yet. Finally, something that felt good. I closed my eyes and tried to forget about my day.

****

Seth was looking at me with a smirk. As much as I hated him, all I wanted to do was to run my fingers through his long wavy hair and shut him up with a kiss. I wanted to feel his hands all over me as I would be biting and licking his neck. I was mad at him for being a dick to me and I wanted to let him know how angry I was by marking every damn part of his body. As I was running my hand on his rock hard chest, my phone started ringing. Seth gave me a look but I told him to let it go. I was not going to interrupt what I was doing to answer the phone. I closed my eyes as I was running my tongue on his abs. When I opened them back, I was lying in my bath and Seth was nowhere to be found. I felt asleep and I was dreaming. I blushed as I tried to grab my phone that had stayed on the bed. I looked at the screen and smiled. It was Felix.

“Hey bitch.” he said when I answered his call. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about earlier. Are you done with the interviews?”

“Yes, I am. I’m heading back to the hotel.”

“How did it go with Mr. Asshole?” I asked with an angry tone.

Images of my dreams were coming back to me and I felt my cheeks getting red again. I hated the guy, why the hell was I dreaming of him?

“He was actually very nice to me. I don’t know what he did to upset you but the interview went pretty well.” Felix said, snapping me out of my dirty thoughts. “And he’s hot as hell.”

“No, he’s not.” I simply said.

“Aah come on girl. Don’t lie to me.” Felix said laughing. “I know exactly what type of man turns you on and Seth Rollins fits every one of your damn criteria. I’m pretty sure that you can’t stop thinking about him.”

Felix knew me too well and it was scaring the shit out of me.

“All naked in your bath…” he added.

“Dude, shut up. You’re gross.”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong.” I said, praying to God that he would believe me.

I was already so embarrassed about that dream and I certainly didn’t need my best friend to tease me about it.

“Fine…” Felix said. “Let’s say I do believe you. I know that he couldn’t stop thinking about you though…”

“What? Why are you saying that?”

My heart started beating faster and I had no idea why. I hated the guy, why was that suddenly so important what he was thinking of me?

“He kept asking questions about you.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Why do you care?” Felix asked. “I thought he was an asshole?”

I knew he was smiling. I could hear it in his voice that all he wanted to do was to tell me that he was right and that I was thinking about Seth. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“I don’t care and he totally is.” I said. “But I’m still curious…”

“Well, he wanted to know your name…”

As Felix was saying that, I heard a bip coming from my phone. Someone was calling me on the other line. I look at my screen and sigh heavily. It was my boss. Could he have been calling at a worse time? I don’t think so.

“Hold on Fe’, I have Bert on the other line.” I said as I pressed the button on my phone. “Hey Bert, what’s up?”

“Hi Alison. How are you?”

“Come on, you didn’t call to talk about my feelings, just cut to the chase.”

“How was the interviews today?”

That was the Bert I knew. The one who always prioritized work over anything else in his life. He never cared about anything else except for his damn magazine and as much as I hated it when I started working for him, I came to the realization that there was nothing I could’ve done to change that. So I just shut up and did my work like he wanted me to.

“It was ok.” I simply said, avoiding at all cost to talk about Seth Rollins.

I didn’t want Bert to know that I asked my best friend to take care of my interviews. I knew how much he hated it when I was asking someone else to do my dirty work.

“Good.” he said. “There’s been a change of plan.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Watch your mouth, young girl.”

There was always a change of plan with Bert and I was getting sick of it. Change of plans always meant more work for me and I wasn’t in the mood for work right now. I was finally getting over the fact that my day was horrible, I didn’t need him to put more work on my shoulders.

“What is it this time?” I asked, letting him know that I was annoyed.

“I need a full page on the Champ.”

Anything else would have been better. That was the worst case scenario and I was not expecting that at all.

“Tell me you’re joking!” I snapped. “You asked me to write small articles about all of them and now you’re expecting me to write a full page about him? How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“Meet him again. I can arrange something…”

“No!” I shouted before he even finished talking.

There was no way in hell that I would meet again with that jerk. Felix was the kind of guy that always asked too many questions anyway so I knew I would probably be just fine to write a full page on Seth Rollins. Did I want to do it? Absolutely not. Was I going to do it? Of course. I couldn’t risk losing my job over a jerk like him.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Good. I need your article by noon tomorrow.”

“OK now you are kidding me.” I said laughing at Bert’s joke.

“I’m not.”

“God damn it Bert!” I yelled. “The magazine comes out in a week, why the hell do you need it by tomorrow?”

“Because I want to put the article on the blog first. Our competitors will do it and I want to be the first.” Bert said with a calm tone, meant to calm me down. “Ali, you’re the best, I know you can do it.”

“Flattering me won’t get you anywhere and you know it.”

I was not the kind of girl that needed to be told she was good enough. I knew damn well I was.

“Fine. Then just do it. I want that article tomorrow at noon. Send it by email. Goodbye Alison.”

Bert immediately hung up. I sighed heavily, fighting the urge to scream. As if my day couldn’t be worse, my bath was getting cold and I couldn’t wait to get out of it. I nearly forgot that Felix was still waiting for me on the other line.

“I’m going to kill him one day.” I said as I got back to my best friend.

“Are you in trouble?” he asked, concerned.

“Define trouble.”

“Does he know I finished your interviews today?”

“No. But I need your footage right now. Bert wants a full page on Seth Rollins and he’s expecting me to write it. He wants it for tomorrow.”

“He was kidding Alison, you know how he is…”

“He wasn’t. Send me your audio please so that I can start working on it.”

“Fine, I’ll send it right now.” Felix said. “But we’re still going out tonight right?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on girl, it’s our last night in New York, we have to go out. We’ve been working our ass off for the past two days, we deserve a night off. I’ll help you write that article tomorrow morning.”

“We’ll see. I got to go now. I’ll call you later.” I said before I hung up the phone.

****

A couple of minutes later, I was sitting on my bed with my laptop open, ready to write the damn thing. I just finished listening to the audiotape and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it. How the hell was I supposed to write an article with that? I opened my text editor and looked at that blank page for a moment.

_Seth Rollins is an asshole_ , I wrote.

I laughed out loud. I thought I was hilarious. I barely sleep in the last few days and it was starting to get to me. I thought about Bert’s face if I sent him that and it made me laugh even more. He would be so pissed and it would be the funniest thing ever.

Trying to focus again on my work, I listened to the audiotape one more time and threw my phone away. I was screwed. There was absolutely nothing good on it. I opened the internet browser and Google Seth Rollins’ name. Maybe I would have a better chance of finding something to talk about. As I was looking at pictures of him, I heard knocks on my hotel door. I put the laptop down on the bed and went to open. I knew Felix wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I whispered.

Seth Rollins was standing in front of me, looking gorgeous in a suit with his hair in a tight bun. I thought for a second that I must have fell asleep while I was writing the article but when he gently pushed me to enter my room, I knew I wasn’t dreaming. He was really there and I had no idea why and how he found me.

“I wanted to apologize for…”

“Hold on.” I said, interrupting him as I was closing the door. “How did you find me?”

Seth sat on the bed and smiled at me.

“Felix.” he simply said.

“What?! Felix gave you my room number?”

“Relax sweetheart, he just told me that you guys were staying in this hotel and he told me your name, so I asked the reception which room was yours.”

_Mental note : Kill Felix_ , I thought.

“I told them I was your boyfriend and they gave me your room number.” he added, with a wicked smile.

“Ugh… what are you doing here anyway?”

“I came to apologize…”

“Like I said, I don’t care about you, please just leave.” I asked him.

I was beyond pissed. How dare he showing up like this? He might have been one of the sexiest guys I’ve ever met, I wanted him out of my room and fast. I couldn’t stand his cockiness.

“If you don’t care about me, why are you stalking my Instagram?” he asked with a smile, pointing at my laptop.

I looked at the screen and saw all his pic. I was doing research for the article. I wasn’t looking at picture of him for fun. Or was I?

“I was NOT stalking your Instagram.” I snapped as I shut down the cover. “Get out of my room NOW!”

“Fine, no need to yell at me.” he said as he stood up.

I followed him, more than happy to shut the door behind him. He stopped for a second and turned around. His gaze was running up and down as he was detailing every damn part of me. I felt naked under the fire of his eyes and I hated it. I wanted him gone.

“Nice outfit by the way.” he said with a smirk as he opened the door.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and blushed instantly. I totally forgot that I was wearing my pajamas and by pajamas I mean very short shorts and white tank top with no bra under it.


	3. Chapter 3

I could still feel Rollins eyes on me and it was making me sick. I had this knot in my stomach that just wouldn’t go away. I hated him and yet I couldn’t get him out of my head. Images of my dreams were coming back to me and I had to sit down to calm myself. My heart was beating so hard in my chest as I blushed once again. I was still trying to get over the fact that he had seen me like this when I heard knocks on my door again. Anger filled my whole body when I went to open.

“I told you to leave me alone!” I shouted as I opened the door.

“Woah honey!” Felix said as he raised his hands in front of him. “Calm down.”

I looked in the hallway and there were no signs of Rollins anywhere. I apologized to my friend and invited him in my room.

“Who did you think it was and what has he done to deserve your wrath?” Felix asked as he sat on my king size bed.

“Nobody. What are you doing here?”

There was no way in hell that I was going to tell Felix about Seth barging into my room. He would start to ask a lot of questions and the first one would probably be what I was wearing when he came in. I still had my pajamas on. I didn’t care about what I was wearing in front of Felix and he didn’t care either. He had to undress me once so nothing mattered anymore. Details of that night are not important, but know that I was drunk and I needed a bath. A cold one.

“I’m picking you up for tonight.” Felix said with a smile. “Are you coming dressed like this? ‘Cause your top is transparent honey…”

“It’s not transparent…” I said as I frowned my eyebrows.

Was my top that transparent for real? I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. Felix was exaggerating, it really wasn’t that bad. But the thought that Rollins saw me like this made me blush once again.

“And I already told you I couldn’t go out tonight.” I added

“Come on Ali!”

“I have to write that stupid article…” I whined.

I sat next to him and lay my head on his shoulder. His presence always calmed me down. The warmth of his body was comforting to me and it almost made me forget about my day. I couldn’t live without him.

“I hate Bert…”

“No, you don’t.” he said as he wrapped his arm around me and gently kissed my head.

“I can’t believe he’s asking me this…”

“OK let me see what you have right now. We’ll finish it up real quick and then we’ll go out and get drunk.” Felix said as he opened my laptop.

“Don’t!” I quickly said.

I didn’t want him to know that I was looking at pictures of Rollins but it was already too late. Felix let out a small laugh but he didn’t say anything.

“Seth Rollins is an asshole…” he read out loud. “Really Ali?”

“What? He is!”

“What the fuck did he do to you?”

I moved away from him to look at his eyes. My best friend had the most amazing blue eyes that I had ever seen in my entire life but they were intimidating at the same time.

“He’s rude, cocky, he thinks he’s better than anyone… you want me to continue?”

“You know he’s playing it right? That it’s his in-ring personality.” Felix said. “He’s not like that in real life.”

Yeah right he’s not like that in real life. I just had a glimpse of what Rollins was in real life and I could still say that he was an asshole. I was about to tell Felix about how rude Seth had been when he barged into my room without being invited but I still didn’t want him to know.

“I don’t care, he’s still an asshole.” I said as I took the laptop to put it on my lap.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m writing the article ‘cause apparently what I have written isn’t good enough.” I said, angry.

“OK, that is going to have to wait.” my friend said as he ripped the laptop away. “I have no idea what he did to you and since you don’t want to tell me, I won’t ask again but you are way too mad to write anything right now so we might as well go out and get you calmed down with a couple of beers. Then I’m sure you’ll find something nice to write about Seth Rollins.”

He stood up and started searching for something in my luggage. Felix was right but I was not going to tell him. He was always right. I was way too pissed to work. I needed to cool down. I needed to get out. I needed to forget. Forget about my crappy day, forget about my stupid boss and most of all, forget about Seth freaking Rollins. The man was getting to me and I hated it. I hated him. Felix threw me a top and I frowned my eyebrows as I looked at it.

“What the hell is that… it’s not mine.” I said.

“I bought it for you ‘cause I knew we were going out tonight. It’ll look so much better than one of your boring plain t-shirts.” Felix said with a bright smile. “Hurry up now, I’m thirsty.”

I looked at him for a second and smiled. I couldn’t be mad at him. Never could, never will.

****

The music was loud but it was kind of good. People around us were having so much fun and their enthusiasm was contagious. As we were walking to our table, I thought to myself that I was feeling better already. A night out with Felix was definitely what I needed. I took my leather jacket off and put in on the chair.

“I can’t believe you bought me this awful shirt.” I said as I sat down.

“You look gorgeous.”

“I look like an idiot.”

A waiter came to see us to take our orders. My shirt was showing too much skin and the dude was clearly looking at my cleavage. I was about to snap at him when he finally looked me in the eyes, smiling. I asked him to bring me a beer and a strawberry daiquiri for Felix.

“An idiot with big freaking boobs.” Felix said, once the waiter was gone. “I knew I made the right choice with this shirt. You’re finally going to get laid tonight.”

“Shut up Fe’.” I said, giving him angry eyes.

My friend had been trying to hook me up with someone for a year now. Since my ex-boyfriend left me, he made it his mission to find me someone. The waiter quickly came back with our drinks and I couldn’t help but to look at him. I mean, really look at him. He was very handsome with his curly blond hair and his deep blue eyes. He had a beautiful face but his traits were too delicate for me. When he realized that I was staring at him, he smiled and asked me if I needed anything else.

“My name is Lucas, if you need anything.” he said, insisting on his last word.

I wasn’t that desperate was I? I hadn’t had sex in forever but I was not going to end up with the waiter. After he left, Felix gave me a look. The look. The one that said he was approving my choice of man. I told my best friend that I was not going to get laid tonight and he pouted. I laughed and raised my glass to cheer with him. Anything to change the subject.

“Here’s to our last night in New York.” I said as I knocked my beer on his daiquiri.

“Cheers honey.”

We both took a good sip of our drink. The bitterness of my beer felt so good that I couldn’t help but smile. Finally, something that felt good. I couldn’t resist taking another sip right away.

“So… when were you planning on telling me that Rollins showed up at your room earlier today?”

I almost choked on my beer. How the hell did he knew about this?

“I bumped into him in the hallway when I was on my way to see you.” Felix said, before I could ask any question. “I just don’t get why you didn’t say anything about it…”

“Why would I have said something? It’s not a big deal.”

“Alison.” Felix started.

It was never good when he was using my full name.

“I know you well enough to know that you wanted to keep it a secret.” he said. “Anyway, he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry for being rude to you.”

As I was about to say something, the waiter came back with another beer. I looked at him, surprised and told him that I didn’t order it.

“It’s coming from that man over there.” he said as he pointed someone behind me.

I turned around and swore. I couldn’t believe it. Dolph Ziggler was sitting at a table a little bit further from mine and he was looking at me, smiling.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What the hell are you doing to all these men, girl?” Felix said laughing.

“Stop looking at him.”

“Too late, he’s coming.”

I was about to sneak away to the washroom but Dolph was already grabbing a chair from another table to join us. What have I done to deserve this?

“Hi, I’m Doplh.” he said as he presented his hand to Felix.

My friend took it and smiled. He was completely in awe in front of him. I knew how much he loved wrestling but I had no idea that Ziggler was one of his favorites.

“I thought you wanted to go to bed early.” he asked me, smiling.

I frowned my eyebrows and suddenly remember that was what I had told him when I declined his offer after the interview.

“Did your friend over here told you how she bailed on me this afternoon?” he said to Felix.

“I didn’t…” I started.

“No, she hasn’t told me about that.” Felix answered, interrupting me.

My best friend was smiling at me and I gave him my angriest look possible. He was supposed to be on my side here not on Ziggler’s. Good to know that as soon as the opportunity presents itself, my friend ditches me for a celebrity.

“I did not bail on you. I had work to do.”

“I know, I’m just messing with you.” he said.

A smile lightened up his face once again. He was beautiful. No, he was hot. I don’t know if that beer was already getting to me, but I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was clearly interested and I should take advantage of the situation but yet there was that little voice in the back of my head that was begging me not too. Dolph called the waiter and ordered us shots. After drinking a few of them, we went on the dance floor. I normally dance with my friend, but Ziggler wasn’t going to let me and I wasn’t complaining. I was having a good time but after an hour of drinking and dancing, I decided that it was time to go. Ziggler begged me to take one last shot with him and I did.

“Do you need a ride back to the hotel?” he asked me as I put back my empty glass on the table.

I looked at him for a second and shook my head. There was no way in hell that I was going to get in a car with him. He was way too drunk to drive and I didn’t want him anywhere near my hotel room. I might not be able to say no to him. After I declined his offer, I joined Felix on the dance floor to let him know that I was leaving. He was dancing with another guy and judging by the way they were both looking at each other, I knew my friend wouldn’t want to leave with me.

“Promise me you’ll take a cab.” I yelled to cover the music.

“I promise.” he answered as he kissed my cheek. “Be safe, honey.”

I left the bar and jumped on a cab.

****

Getting in that elevator was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The world around me was spinning and I had to focus so hard on putting one foot in front of the other. It was late and there wasn’t anyone in the hallways so at least, nobody could see me. When the doors finally opened, I silently thank God. I was a step closer to my bed. I hit the last floor button and leaned on the wall behind me. The movement of the elevator was making me so dizzy that I had to close my eyes and focus on my breathing not to throw up. Damn that last shot was hitting me hard and why the hell did I choose a room on the last floor? Oh yeah, to piss off my boss. I guess Karma’s a bitch. The doors did that annoying sound when they opened and I was so glad I was finally there. I opened my eyes and what I saw was not what I was expecting at all. Seth freaking Rollins was standing in front of me.

“Whoa!” he said as he looked at me. “That is totally different than what you were wearing earlier.”

His eyes were all over me and I hated it. I hated him. I was having a good time tonight and he had to ruin everything. I hated Felix for buying me this shirt. I hated myself for putting it on even though I hated it. Seth entered the elevator but he didn’t press any button. He just stood there, in front of me. When it started moving again, I lean back my head on the wall behind me but this time, I kept my eyes open.

“Could you please stop looking at my boobs?” I said, trying to look angry.

The alcohol running in my veins was taking all my credibility away from me.

“Hey! Don’t blame me.” he said, laughing. “They are just there, popping in my face.”

“The next thing that is going to pop in your face is my fist if you don’t shut up.”

“Damn you’re cute when you get all mad at me.”

“Oh I’m not mad yet. You don’t want to see what I look like when I am.” I simply said.

“Like earlier today?”

“Ugh… why do you always have to be so annoying?!” I said as I closed my eyes to make him disappear.

The doors finally opened on my floor and I was glad I could finally get out of there.

“You need any help?” Seth asked me when he realized that I had trouble walking straight.

“I’m fine.”

I was certainly not going to ask him to help me. As I got out of the elevator, I tripped on my own feet and fell on the ground. Damn that tequila was hitting me hard. I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh at this point but before I could make up my mind, a pair of hands grabbed me and lifted me back on my feet.

“I’m fine… let me go.” I whined.

Seth took my arm and put it over his neck and wrapped his arm around my waist to support me.

“Clearly, you’re not.” he simply let out. “Which one is your room?”

After I told him, he slowly walked me there. When we finally arrived in front of my door, I took out the keycard from my bag and tried to open it.

“Are you going to make it to your bed?” Seth asked.

I turned around to face him. I thought he would have that cocky smile but he actually just looked concerned about me. I stared at his brown chocolate eyes for a moment before I finally mumbled that I would be alright.

“Thanks.”

It pained me to say it, but I still had to thank him. He could’ve let me on the floor after all the shit I told him today.

“No problem.” he said.

He helped me get the door opened and gave me my key back.

“And by the way, you looked a lot better in that pajama you were wearing earlier.” he said as he winked to me.

“Shut up.”

Blame it on the tequila but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“Oh, she can smile!” he said before he got back to the elevator. “Goodnight Alison.”

“Good night.” I mumbled as I entered my hotel room, closing the door behind me.

I took all my clothes off and let myself fall on the bed. I looked at my laptop and sighed heavily. That article would have to wait until tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

I sighed heavily as I let myself fall down on my couch. This day was finally over. This horrible week was nearly over. Every final approval was given on the damn issue and everything was going to be printed on Monday. I’ve been working my ass off for a week to make sure that everything was on point. Since Felix and I came back from New York, I barely had time to breathe. I hated the last few days of every month. It was always so stressful and I had to make sure that everything was perfect. If there were mistakes in the magazine, I would get blame for it. I always get blame for everything. There was only one day left. It sucks that I have to work tomorrow event though it’s supposed to be the week-end, but I know that after that day, everything will be a lot less crazy.

“How do I look?” Felix asked as he barged into the living room.

He was wearing a blue shirt that made his eyes stand out and his tight jeans were showing every damn curve of his body. His dark hair was slick back and he had shaved the few hairs he had as a beard.

“You look gorgeous, babe.” I said with a smile.

Felix was going out on a date and he was nervous. He wouldn’t admit it but I could read it in his eyes. He knew me well but so did I. He just got out of a long-term relationship a couple of months ago and he had not been on a date since then. He met some guy and, of course, some things happened with them but he didn’t go on an official date since his boyfriend broke up with him.

“I’m not sure about this…” Felix said.

“Come on Fe’! It’s only a date! You used to love these things.”

Before Felix started dated Sebastian, he was always going out with different guys. He didn’t want to commit to anyone so he just dated anyone he could. That’s actually how he met his boyfriend. They ended up being together for two years, but at one point, Sebastian got jealous of the relationship Felix and I had. He literally asked my best friend to choose between him and me.

“Yeah, you’re right.” my friend said as he smiled. “You’re sure you don’t want to come?”

“Nah, I’m good. I just want to lie down on this couch and stay there forever.”

“Alright. You’ll call me in twenty minutes?”

“Sure.”

Every time Felix and I went to meet with someone, we would always call the other twenty minutes after the date started to make sure that the guy wasn’t a crazy psychopath.

“One day you’ll have to go out too you know?” he asked me as he was putting his wallet in his back pocket.

“I’m not ready for that yet.”

“How long is it been since…”

“Can we not talk about this, please?” I asked with a bit of anger in my voice.

“Alright, don’t get mad at me.” Felix said as he put his hands in front of him. “I think you should come with me though. Maybe if you find a man to have sex with you’ll be less of a bitch.”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my head with my hands in desperation.

“Ali, when was the last time you had sex?”

That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up and gently pushed my best friend outside of our apartment.

“You’re going to be late, now get out of here.”

Felix blew me a kiss and winked at me before he jumped on the cab that was waiting for him in the driveway. When was the last time I had sex? I had not been on a date after my ex-boyfriend dumped me a year ago. I loved him way too much and I ended up getting hurt in the process. I didn’t want to fall for anyone else after that day. It was too soon. I wasn’t ready to be heartbroken again. After kicking Felix out of the house, I went into my room to put on more comfortable clothes. For work, I had to wear skirts and blouses and everything that was not like me. I threw my outfit in the corner of my room and put on an old plain t-shirt that was way too big for my size and some white shorts. I grabbed the blanket on my bed and crawled myself back to the couch. Twenty minutes later, I called my best friend, praying to God that he was still alive. He assured me that everything was fine even though something in his voice sounded weird. I told him to be careful and that I loved him before I hung up and started a movie. There was nothing as relaxing as watching an old movie you’ve seen a hundredth time.

****

My eyes slowly opened up as I heard someone playing with the front door handle. I look at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was two in the morning.

 _Not again_ , I thought as I tried to stand up.

Every time Felix was going out, he was always struggling with the handle when he was coming back home. I looked outside before going to the front door to make sure it was my best friend and not some psycho that wanted to rob my apartment. The cab that was parked in my driveway confirmed that it was Felix. I should let him figure out how to get inside by himself. That’s what he deserves for waking me up at 2 a.m., but I was such a good friend that I walked to the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I shouted.

Seth Rollins was standing in front of me with a surprise look on his face.

“What are YOU doing here?” he asked, visibly confused.

“I live here, dumbass!”

“Sorry, I didn’t know. I was just trying to get this door open. Felix is so drunk that he couldn’t tell me which key was the right one.”

“Where is he?” I asked, concerned.

My best friend was nowhere to be seen and my heart started beating faster. Where the hell was he and what was Seth doing in front of me?

“Relax, he’s in the car.”

I got out of the apartment and ran to the car. Felix was lying on the backseat with his eyes closed. His hair was a mess and his beautiful blue shirt was soaked in sweat.

“Fe’, wake up.” I said as I gently tap his cheek.

“Hey honey!” he said as he opened his eyes.

He had his famous drunken smile and I knew he was totally wasted.

“Come on, babe. Let’s get you inside.”

The driver asked me to pay for the ride. The way he asked was so rude but I couldn’t be mad at him. He must have had the worst ride of his life with Felix in the backseat. I knew my friend and he really was a lot to handle when he had too much to drink.

“I’ll get it.” Seth told me as he reached for his back pocket.

“No.”

I took Felix’s wallet and paid what he owed the driver. There was no way Rollins was going to pay for that. He brought my friend home safely, that was more than enough. I helped Felix out of the car, wrapping his arm around my neck and Seth did the same on the other side. He asked the driver to wait for him, telling him that he was just going to help me get my drunk friend to bed.

“Sure.” the driver sighed, clearly annoyed by us.

Maybe he was a son of a bitch after all. As we were reaching the stairs, Felix mumbled something. I was about to ask him what he just said when he moved away from us to puke on the ground.

“Are you fucking serious…” I let out in a sigh. “What the fuck happened tonight?”

My best friend was too busy puking everywhere that he couldn’t answer me. Seth did though.

“He was already pretty drunk when I bumped into him in the bar.”

“What happened to his date?” I asked.

“He was alone. When he saw me, he bought me a beer and kept on drinking his disgusting daiquiris.”

“How many?”

“I stop counting after three.” Seth said.

“Ugh… can we not talk about alcohol right now…” Felix asked as he tried to get up.

I helped him and so did Seth. I asked him if he was OK to get up the stairs and he nodded. I’ve been drunk a multiple amount of time in my life so I know how it feels when you get sick from alcohol abuse. Puking is the most disgusting thing ever but you just feel so much better after. We finally reached Felix’s room and my friend fell asleep as soon as we put him on his bed.

“Thanks for bringing him home.”

“Don’t mention it.” Seth said with a smile. “Let’s just say you’ll owe me one.”

I looked at him and shook my head, smiling. He was unbelievable. He winked to me and left, saying goodbye. I turned to Felix and sighed. I hated when he was like that. I took his shoes and his pants off. He was going to keep the shirt on thought, ‘cause there was no way in hell that I would be able to take it off without a little bit of help. I manage to get him under his sheets and I kissed his forehead. I dragged myself back to the living room to grab my blanket before going to bed. As I was heading to my room, I heard knocks on my front door.

“Ali, it’s me.” I heard Seth say.

I opened the door and looked at him, frowning my eyebrows.

“The fucking cab left.” he explained. “I called another one, but do you mind if I wait inside, it started to rain…”

“Sure, no problem.”

I let him inside. Seth thanked me as he took his sweatshirt off, revealing a tight white t-shirt that made his skin look darker. His hair was tied in a messy bun and the rain made them so fuzzy. He passed his hands in it to replace them the best he could, like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Where is the bathroom?”

“Down the hall, second door to your left.” I said as I pointed him the right direction.

As Seth was heading toward the bathroom, I came back in the living room and put my blanket on the couch. I wrapped myself into it and lied down, waiting for him to come back. I had to fight the urge to fall asleep. I was so tired that my eyes were slowly closing even if I didn’t want them to.

“I love the paintings you have everywhere in the apartment.” Seth said as he came back.

“Thanks.” I said with a smile. “My mom made them.”

“Oh really? Wow, she’s talented.”

“Was talented.”

Seth looked at me, frowning his eyebrows. I sat back on the couch so that he could sit next to me.

“Was?” he asked.

“Yeah…she died when I was thirteen.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I mean, yeah… it was hard being a teenager without a mother and it’s been a very rough time, but I’m fine now. Those paintings are all I have left from her.”

“I couldn’t imagine my life without my mom…”

“Well I couldn’t either, but sometimes you don’t really have a choice. You just have to live with it. The pain never goes away, but you learn to live with it.”

“And what about your dad?” Seth asked.

Part of me wanted to ask him why he would care about my life but for some reason I didn’t.

“Ugh… my dad. Let’s just say that his job is more important. I’m not even sure that he remembers he still has a daughter.” I let out in a sigh.

An awkward silence filled the room. After what felt like an eternity, I told Seth I was going to check on Felix. I used my best friend as an issue but the truth was that I just needed to get away from him for a couple of minutes. After I made sure Felix wasn’t dead, I came back to the living room.

“How is he?” Seth asked, genuinely concerned.

“He’s going to live.” I said, laughing. “Believe me, he’d seen worse than this.”

Seth laugh and reached for something in his back pocket, asking me for a pen.

“My cab is here.” he said as he wrote down something on a piece of paper. “Do you mind texting me tomorrow morning to let me know how Felix is doing?”

I took the paper that he was lending to me and frowned my eyebrows.

“Wow. Is that some sick way of hitting on me? You bring my friend back home and give me your number, pretending you want to know if he’s going to be alright?” I let out in a laugh.

That was so lame. Original, but lame.

“No.” he simply said. “I really want to know.”

Turned out that asshole had feelings after all. I promised him I would text him in the morning. He smiled at me and grabbed his sweatshirt.

“Take care Alison.” he said before heading outside.

“Good night.”

I closed the door behind him and looked through the window. Seth got in the cab and waved to me. I couldn’t help but to wave back at him.

“What the hell just happened?” I thought out loud.

I grabbed my blanket and dragged myself to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

I groaned when my alarm woke me up. It was way too early for me and I just wanted to lay in bed until noon. Would my boss get mad at me if I was late? Of course. Did it matter to me? Not at all. I reached for my phone and set the alarm an hour later. That would get Felix a little more time to get his idea straight before going to work and it’ll give me the chance to sleep a little bit more. Although I didn’t. For some reason, I just stay in bed, thinking about Seth. Why was he suddenly so nice? The guy was an asshole, no doubt about it so why did he bring Felix home last night. I thought for a second that he did it only to piss me off, but then I remembered that he had no idea I was living with Fe’. I kept convincing myself that he was an asshole for an hour, until my alarm started again. I groaned again as I made my way to Felix room.

“Hey babe, wake up.” I said.

Felix growled and mumbled that he wanted to stay in bed. I ripped his blankets away from him and opened the curtains. He turned on his stomach and told me to get the fuck away from his room.

“I feel like shit.” he whined.

“Well, you look like shit.” I said, making him groan. “Come on, we’re already late for work.”

“Work?”

“You forgot that we were working today?”

“Ugh…”

I shook my head. Of course he forgot. He would’ve never drink that much if he knew he had to wake up early. I went to the bathroom to get him some aspirin. Looking at him, I could tell how much his head was hurting him. I’ve been in his shoes more than I could remember. When I came back to his room, I was surprised to see that he was already up.

“Rough night?” I asked as I lend him the glass of water and the medication.

“I had a blast.”

“How was your date?”

“Good…” he said as he lower his eyes.

I knew he was lying. Not only because Rollins said he found my friend all alone in the bar but also because every time Felix was avoiding my stare it was because he was lying.

“Come on Fe’. Don’t lie to me.” I said, smiling. “I know you bailed on him. Seth told me.”

“And who the fuck is Seth?”

I looked at my friend, raising my eyebrows in surprise.

“You’re kidding me right?” I asked. “Seth Rollins! How many other Seth do you know?”

“What does he have to do with me not going to my date?” Felix asked, confused.

“He brought you home last night. You don’t remember?”

“What?!”

“Yeah, he bumped into you in the bar. You paid him a couple of drinks and you were so drunk he decided to bring you home.” I explained. “You nearly puked on him as we were trying to get you to bed.”

The look on Felix’s face was worth a million. He wasn’t sure if I was messing with him but at the same time, he knew I wasn’t good at inventing stories.

“Come on, get ready. We’re late and Bert will be pissed.”

I left his room and went back into mine to grab my stuff. I picked up my cellphone from the nightstand and texted one of my colleagues to let him know we were on our way. I went back to the living room to pack everything I needed in my bag and my eyes laid out on a piece of paper. Seth’s phone number. I sighed as I took my phone out. I promised him I would text him and I always keep my promises, even if the guy I promised something to was an asshole.

 _Felix is fine_ , I wrote. _Beside a massive headache, he’ll survive_.

Felix joined me in the living room and he already looked better. His hair wasn’t as messy as they were last night and he looked as professional as if nothing happened.

****

After we went to grab our usual Starbuck’s coffees, Felix and I finally arrived at work, an hour late. I hold the door open for my friend and followed him inside the office. Normally, at the end of the month, people are just running everywhere and freaking out like crazies. But this morning, there was nobody except for Georges, my boss’ assistant.

“Where is everybody?” I asked him.

“Downstairs.” he said with a smile. “For the photo shoot.”

Felix and I both look at each other, confused. What photo shoot? We gave the final approval on everything, we were here to check everything up one last time before releasing the issue.

“Bert didn’t warn you? There’s been a last minute change…”

Of course Bert was behind this. There was always a last minute something with him. I heavily sighed and Felix put his hand on my shoulder to calm me down. He did the right thing ‘cause I was about to snap at Georges. Poor guy. Being Bert’s assistant was probably the worst job of all time. Especially when he had to suffer my wrath because of all the stupid decisions our boss was taking.

“Since when do we need everybody for a photo shoot?” I asked as I put my bag on my desk.

“Since the guy is hot and has no shirt on.” Georges shouted as he was walking away.

I was about to ask George who could possibly be important enough for us to do this last minute photo shoot but he had already disappeared in Bert’s office.

“I’m going to kill him.” I said.

“You can kill him while I take a peek at that hottie.” Felix said as he was dragging me to the set with had in the basement.

All our employees, mostly girl, were standing by the stairs, laughing. Giggling, I should definitely use the word giggling because the sound that was coming out of their mouth was so weird that I couldn’t call that laugh.

“Where’s Bert.” I asked in a sigh.

“Over there, with Mandy.”

“What? Mandy is here? When did she come back?” Felix shouted.

I spotted her next to Bert a little bit further away from us. Without another word, I immediately joined them. Mandy smile vanished a little bit when she saw me coming. She knew I was pissed. A part of me was glad that she was finally back. I was so mad that I had to cover for her absence and seeing her here meant my nightmare was finally about to come to an end.

“Oh good you’re here!” Bert said as his eyes laid on me. “I need you to choose the picture for the cover.”

“Hi Ali…” Mandy mumbled.

“What the fuck is going on?” I shouted at Bert, ignoring her.

“There’s been a change of plan.” Bert simply said.

I turned around and my jaw dropped to the floor. On the set, there was this shirtless man that was lifting weight and the guy was none other than Seth Rollins.

 _Fuck my life_ , I thought.

“What’s he doing here?” I said, annoyed by the sight of him.

“He’s shooting the cover for the month’s issue.” Bert answered.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted, making Mandy jumped.

A couple of our employees turn to look at us for a second, but they went on with their job without saying a word. Bert and I were always fighting, it’s not like they haven’t seen this before.

“We’re doing a four pages spread on Seth Rollins.” Mandy said.

“And I need you to choose the pictures right now.”

I stared at him for a couple of minutes, shaking my head. I was waiting for him to laugh and tell me he was joking but he never did. He simply asked me to hurry up because we apparently had a lot of work ahead of us. No kidding? The guy is changing everything in our publication two days before our due date.

“I hate you…” I mumbled as I headed toward the set.

I joined Felicia, our employee in charge of the shoot. She was sitting on a stool near the laptop and she was looking at the pictures that our photograph was taking. Every click on his camera gave us a new still to look at. Every frame of Rollins was great. He didn’t have to force anything. He was just born to be a star, a good-looking one. I looked up at him for a second and our gaze crossed paths. He seemed surprise to see me here and a smile lighten up his face.

“What about this one?” Felicia asked. “He looks natural…”

The picture she was showing me had been taken when his eyes laid on me. His smile was making me uncomfortable.

“I don’t like it.” I said as I risked another look at him.

The shoot was over and Seth was putting his shirt back which made me feel a lot better.

“Aren’t we lucky to have him here?” Mandy asked as she approached me.

“Very.” I said in the most sarcastic way possible. “Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere in Europe?”

“I came back two days ago. I was supposed to be in vacation for one more week, but Bert called me saying he needed me.”

We didn’t need her at all. I could’ve covered for her like I did for the past couple of weeks. I don’t get why my boss would call her. Maybe because he knew this whole thing would piss me off. Yeah, maybe Bert did the right thing for once.

“When he told me he needed me to do an interview with Seth Rollins, I couldn’t say no. Seriously, who would?” Mandy asked with stars in her eyes.

 _I would_ , I thought.

Seth was coming our way and the look on Mandy’s face was priceless. She put her angel face on and Rollins was probably going to fall for it. She seemed like a nice girl, but she was not. She was probably the worst bitch I’ve ever met. We were friends a couple of years ago, but not anymore. She was now my colleague and nothing else.

“Hi, I’m Mandy.” she said as she offered her hand to Seth. “I’m the one who will do the interview with you.”

“Hi.”

Seth briefly shook her hand and barely looked at her. He immediately turned to me, smiling.

“Hey you!” he said. “Thanks for letting me know about Felix.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Mandy was just standing there, looking at both of us, like she couldn’t believe her eyes. When we were younger, Mandy was always the one that guys hit on. I was the friend. The nice friend though. Guys had a lot of fun with me, but I wasn’t girlfriend material. Although I would have preferred if Rollins stayed away from me, I couldn’t do otherwise but to be a little happy about it. In your face girl, the hot guy was talking to me.

“Didn’t think you would.”

“After nearly getting puked on by Felix, I thought you deserved to know that he was alright.”

“He looks like shit.” Seth said, laughing as he looked at my best friend that was talking with Bert a little bit further.

“He doesn’t remember anything, actually.”

“I bet. He was so wasted when I found him.” he said. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

“I’m pretty sure I told you the first time we met but you were too busy being a smart-ass.”

Seth burst into laughter sending shivers down my spine. Ugh, I hated that laugh. It was the typical sarcastic Seth Rollins laugh.

“Yeah, probably, but I already apologized for that remember? I’m not going to do it again.”

“Excuse me Seth.” Mandy said as she stepped between us.

I totally forgot that she was still there.

“I would hate to interrupt you but do you mind if we go to my office to do the interview?”

“Go on, I’m right behind you.” Seth said as he looked back at me.

Mandy hesitated for a moment and then she left for her office. I was laughing internally. It was the first time in my life that I saw someone being so indifferent to her. I couldn’t wait to tell Felix about it.

“Poor Mandy, I think you just broke her heart.” I said when she was far enough so that she wouldn’t understand.

“Why aren’t you the one interviewing me?”

“’Cause it’s not my job.”

“But you did in New York… I thought you…” Seth started.

“Yeah, I was covering for her and believe me, I hated every second of it.” I said with a little bit of anger in my voice.

“Oh, I forgot how cute you were when you were getting mad…”

“Get out of here Rollins!” I said, shaking my head. “Go use your charms on someone who cares.”

“See you Ali.” he said as he headed to the stairs. “Have fun looking at shirtless pictures of me.”

“Asshole.” I mumbled as I turned to Felicia.

She was looking at me with a big smile on her face. I looked behind me to see if someone was coming until I realized she really was looking at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

“Hey Ali.” Felix said as he was approaching me. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah, hold on a minute.” I said as I turned back to Felicia. “What is it?”

“I understand now why you hate that picture.”

She was talking about the photo of Seth that had been taken when he was smiling at me.

“Shut up.” I said.

“What’s wrong with that picture?” Felix asked.

“Ali doesn’t like it ‘cause that’s the face Seth had when he first saw her earlier. I think he was genuinely happy to see her.”

“That’s ridiculous.” I said as I grabbed Felix’s arm to take him somewhere else.

Gladly, he didn’t make any comments. I was not in the mood for jokes. Although it was so not like him to let it go. Normally, he would tease me with this. I knew something was wrong with him and that it had nothing to do with his hangover.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Remember when you asked me to tell you if Bert was cutting one of my articles out of the publication again?” Felix said. “Well, he did…”

“Fuck…”

“He needed the space for the spread about Rollins.”

“I’m going to talk to him.” I said as I headed to the stairs.

I was beyond mad. It was too much. I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to talk to Bert. This whole thing was just getting out of control. I asked Georges if my boss was in his office and he nodded, asking me to close the door on my way in. He knew things would get ugly.

“Not now Alison.” he said after I barged into his office.

“How many times have I told you to stop those last minute changes? And now I learn that you cut Felix’s article again? What the hell is wrong with you, _dad_?”

“How many times have I told you not to call me _dad_ when we are at work?”

“You won’t ever listen to me so why should I do the same?”

“Someone needed to be cut. I needed the space for the spread and as far as I’m concerned, Felix is getting paid for that article whether it’s published or not. ”

“You know that we might lose him one day because of the way you’re treating him.”

“There are plenty of journalists that are waiting outside to take his spot.”

I burst into laughter. I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Don’t play that card with me. You know damn well that if Felix quit, I quit too. You need me here. You can’t do this without me, _dad_.”

“Alison.” he said, angrily.

He really hated to be called that. He said it was because we were at work, but he never wants me to call him like that.

“I did what’s best for our publication. Wrestlemania is coming up really quick and Seth Rollins is the man. Do you know how many fangirls this guy have? Put it on the cover and girls will buy our magazine.”

I hated to admit it but he was right. He should’ve thought about it sooner though. Not two days before it was going to be printed.

“You can’t do a last minute photo shoot and have Mandy do a complete interview with only two days left.” I said as I sat on the chair in front of his desk.

“She didn’t complain.”

“Yeah, ‘cause she was too busy kissing your ass.” I let out, angrily.

“Why don’t you take a week off?”

“I can’t leave. You need me here. I do everything!”

“Mandy will cover for you. You did it for her, let her repay you.”

“Yeah right, Mandy wants my job, I bet she would be ecstatic to cover for me.”

My dad looked at me for a moment. I say my dad ‘cause it was him that was looking at my eyes and not my boss. I rarely see him and the concern on his face immediately calmed me down. Maybe he was right. Maybe I needed vacation.

“Name the place, choose a hotel, do whatever you want Alison, I’ll pay for everything.” he gently said. “Let’s just focus on finishing this day first.”

I sighed and left his office, mad that my dad won me over once again.


	6. Chapter 6

“It’s going to be the best week ever!” Felix shouted as he dropped his luggage in the living room.

I decided to take the week off and since Bert was paying for everything, I rented a beautiful big house in Los Angeles. I always wanted to go there and I never could. The house was way too big for just the two of us but I didn’t care. He told me I could do whatever I wanted and I took his word for it. I chose the most beautiful I saw on the internet and rented it without any remorse. The living room was so big that I could literally fit my apartment into it.

“I’m taking the master bedroom!” Felix said as he ran upstairs.

I didn’t really care. As long as I had a bed to sleep in I was going to be just fine. I didn’t plan on spending much time in there anyway. The pool and the beach were the places I would be nearly twenty-four seven. I slowly walked into the kitchen and stopped in front of the big glass door that was leading to the backyard. From where I was I could see the beach and the view was bringing me so much peace. I couldn’t remember when was the last time that I actually felt that relax. Even though leaving Mandy in charge of my work was a little bit stressful, I knew I could count on her. Felix kept telling me that everything was going to be just fine and I trusted him. I convinced my boss to let me bring Felix with me. He wasn’t sure at first but we managed to get to a compromise. He sent my friend to Los Angeles for work and I just decided to go with him. He had a couple of interviews to do during the week, but he could spend the rest of his time with me.

“I can’t believe Bert let you rent this place.” Felix said as he entered the kitchen. “It’s the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen.”

“He said I could ask for anything. As long as I stop whining, he’s happy.”

At first, when I showed the house to my dad, he freaked out. But then, I told him that renting two separate hotel rooms would basically cost the same thing so he shut his mouth and gave me his credit card. Felix’s phone started ringing, making me jump.

“Shit, it’s Mandy.” he said.

“Wow, she is not wasting any time.”

She wanted to prove a point: that she was better than me. Maybe she was. Right now I didn’t care at all.

“I have to take it.”

“Fine. I’m going to lie down on that beautiful beach by myself.” I said with a smile, to piss him off. “Join me when you’re done with that bitch.”

Felix looked at me, shaking his head. What? Mandy was a bitch. As he answered the call, I kissed his cheek and went upstairs to change. The beach impatiently was waiting for me.

***

After I put on my bikini, I made my way outside. I could access the beach through the backyard and that was one of the main things I loved about this house. That and the awesome kitchen, and the luxurious bathroom and mostly everything else. It was simply perfect. And expensive, but that I couldn’t care less. The sand under my feet was hot as I was looking for a place where I could lie down in peace. The beach was pretty calm for the time of the day and I was very surprised. I thought there would be a lot of people everywhere, but it was pretty quiet. I spotted a place and put my towel on the sand before I sat on it. I took my phone out of my bag and quickly texted Felix to let him know where I was. After I sent him my message, I lied down on my back and put my sunglasses on. The warmth of the sun on my naked skin was comforting and so was the sound of the waves. I finally could relax.

“If I didn’t know you any better, I’d thought you were stalking me.” I heard beside me.

I’d recognize that voice anywhere, but I couldn’t believe it. I sat back and opened my eyes but all I could see was a shape. I took off my sunglasses and I sighed when I finally saw his face.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I let out as I let myself fall back on my towel.

It was him. Seth Rollins was there, standing beside me. His hair was tied in a high messy bun and his naked chest was covered in sweat. Although I didn’t want to admit it, he looked hot as hell in those black board short. Every damn muscle of his body was chiseled perfectly. He had his grin on his face. The one that made me want to punch his face. What the hell was he doing here? Why did he have to show up and ruin my day? I just couldn’t stand him. He was annoying but everything about him was driving me crazy.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I was kind of enjoying a moment of silence until you showed up.” I said.

Why was it so hard for me to have a moment to myself without being interrupted by an idiot like him?

“You’re alone?” he asked as he sat down next to me. “No best friend or boyfriend around?”

I knew this was just a way for him to know if I was single or not. I didn’t want to answer that. It was none of his business anyway. I simply told him that Felix was on his way to join me.

“Oh so no boyfriend then…” he stated. “That’s what I thought.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Come on girl, you are way too bitchy to have one.”

I stared at him for a couple of seconds, with my mouth wide open. I couldn’t believe he just said that. I wanted to wipe that stupid smile off his face. Who the hell did he think he was to make such comment about me? I was getting angry and I didn’t want to. I was here to relax, have fun and forget about all the problems in my life. Unfortunately for me, Seth Rollins was now a problem and an annoying one.

“Aren’t you supposed to be training in a gym somewhere for your match tonight?”

“I already trained, I came here for a quick run, but then I saw you...”

“You can go back to what you were doing and leave me the fuck alone.”

“Nah, I’d rather stay here to piss you off. It’s kind of my thing.” he said with a smirk.

“Yeah. I noticed.”

I didn’t want to smile, but I couldn’t help it. He was annoying and he knew it. The dude just enjoyed pissing me off and he had no shame in admitting it. Hell at least he was honest. Honest and good-looking. My phone beeped and got me out of my thoughts. I didn’t realize that I was just staring at Seth this whole time. I searched through my bag to find my device. Felix had texted me that he was on his way. As I was about to answer him, Seth told me that he was seeing my friend further away on the beach. I quickly waved at Felix to catch his attention.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” he asked Seth as he was getting closer to us.

Felix looked at me with a smile. I knew exactly what he was thinking and I couldn’t wait to rectify the situation. In his mind, something was going on between Seth and me, but he was wrong. I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with Rollins. He was too much of a jerk for me.

“I was running on the beach when I saw Alison.” he told my friend as he shook his hand.

Felix had not seen him since he nearly puked on him. He apologized to Seth, saying that he didn’t remember anything about that night. Seth laughed and told him that it wasn’t a big deal. They talked like that for a while like I wasn’t even there, but it was fine by me. I could lie down and enjoy the sun on my skin while the guys were talking wrestling and all kinds of stupid stuff. After a couple of minutes, I simply stopped listening to them. Felix’s phone started ringing and he swore as he looked at it. It was probably Mandy again. He excused himself, saying he had to take the call and he walked away from us.

“So, are you coming?” Seth asked me.

I slowly turned my head to look at him, frowning my eyebrows.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m giving Felix tickets for tonight’s show.”

“Oh… that’s kind of you.”

 “See? I’m not an asshole.” he said, making me smile. “Does that means you’ll come tonight?”

Did I want to go to a wrestling show? Absolutely not. Was I going to go anyway? Of course. I wouldn’t let Felix go alone. I knew how much my best friend loved wrestling and he never really got the chance to see live shows. We were here to have fun and a night out sounded perfect for me. I nodded as my best friend was coming back. Seth told us that he had to leave but that he’ll let us know if he managed to get us some tickets for the house show.

“You still have my number?” Seth asked me as he stood up.

“Yeah… I think so…”

Of course I still had it, but with the look on Felix’s face, I was ashamed to admit it. I never told my friend that Seth had given me his number. It wasn’t a big deal, but with him, everything was.

“Give me a call around 7:00.” he said. “I’ll let you guys know if I have the tickets.”

Seth shook Felix’s hand, smiled at me and left. He started running on the beach and I had to force myself not to look at him. I turned to my friend, but the way he was looking at me wasn’t good at all.

“What?”

“Since when do you have Rollins’ phone number?”

“The night he brought you home, he gave it to me. He wanted me to text him to let him know how you were doing.”

“And why haven’t you told me?”

I sighed, I groaned and I turn to my stomach. Time for my back to get some of this amazing sun. I did not want to have this conversation with Felix.

***

The show was great. As much as it pained me to admit it, I really did have a lot of fun. The crowd was slowly making its way out of the arena but Felix and I stayed in our places. Seth had managed to get us some VIP kind of experience. He wanted to bring us backstage. I’ve never seen my best friend so excited. When Rollins told us over the over, Felix started jumping everywhere like a five year old. I thought it was a really nice gesture from Seth but I wasn’t going to tell him again. I’ve said it once, it was more than enough. In my head, he was still an arrogant jerk ad he would always be.

After everyone had left the building, the crew came from backstage to start packing everything. I looked at my phone when it beeped. Rollins was texting me that he was coming to join us. Felix was more than excited and he couldn’t stop smiling. A couple of minutes later, I saw Seth and his friend Dean walked down the ramp. The two-toned man was still in his ring gear, but a least he had the decency to put a shirt on. I had seen enough chest for the day with all those half-naked wrestlers. Seth waved to us and asked us to get down to join him.

“Here, let me help you.” he said as I was about to jump over the barricade.

I looked at his hand for a second but decided that I didn’t need his help. He shook his head and had a smirk on his face. He introduced us to Dean, but obviously Felix already knew him. After we talked for a couple of minutes and went on the ring, the guys led us backstage where they introduced us to some other wrestler. Of course, when I saw Dolph Ziggler, I looked for a way out but it was already too late. The smile on his face when he saw me wasn’t good. I didn’t think he was going to remember me but apparently he did.

“You two know each other?” Seth asked, surprised.

“Yeah, we went out when we were in New York.”

I was about to say that we didn’t, but Ziggler wouldn’t let me say anything. He was talking about how that night was great and about how much fun we had together. I mean, yeah, we did have fun, but not that much. At least from my point of view.

“Oh!” Seth said, looking at me with a big smile. “So this is the guy that got you drunk that night.”

“I wasn’t drunk.”

In fact, I was. When I woke up the next morning, I felt like shit and I was so ashamed that he saw me like this. I hoped he would forget about that night but clearly, he did not.

“You fell on the floor and I had to pick you up.”

“I tripped on my feet, dumbass.” I said.

“Because you were drunk.”

“I wasn’t-“

“If I remember correctly, we did drink a lot of shots that night.” Ziggler said, interrupting me.

I didn’t need jerk number 2 to side with jerk number 1. I needed someone on my side. I quickly search for Felix before remembering that my friend would probably team up with the guys. The fact is that: yeah, I was very drunk that night. Was I going to let Rollins win? Absolutely not.

“So what are you guys doing tonight?” Seth asked Felix when he joined us.

“Well, I was talking with Dean and we decided to have a little party back at our house.”

“I beg your pardon?” I snap at my friend.

He looked at me with a smile, saying that it wasn’t a big deal, that he just invited a couple of the superstars. I shook my head in disapproval but Felix wasn’t looking at me anymore.  What the hell was he thinking? Everybody seemed to think it was a brilliant idea except for me. Seth looked at me, asking me if it was OK with me. I was glad that someone finally dare to notice my presence but I was surprised he would care, since he made it his mission to drive me nuts.

“Could be fun.” he said. “But if you’re not OK with it, it’s your call.”

Felix begged me with his puppy eyes and I smiled at him. I couldn’t say no to him when he was looking at me like that and he knew it. He tended to use this weapon a little too often and it was working every single time.

“Fine.” I let out.

Felix made the arrangement with the others and they all agreed to meet us at the house for 10pm.

“So I guess I’ll see you later…” Seth said after he said goodbye to my best friend.

“Yeah, I guess so…”

This was not how I wanted to spend my first night in Los Angeles.


	7. Chapter 7

I wasn’t really feeling this party thing but I decided to shut up about it. I thought I would get use to the idea of it but when we finally got home after buying a whole bunch of different alcohol, I still wasn’t feeling it. I helped Felix with the cleaning ‘cause yeah, the house was already a mess after only a day.

“Are you OK?” Felix asked me as I was cleaning the dishes in the living room.

“Yeah…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not really in the mood for a party.” I let out in a sigh.

What was the point of lying to him anyway? He immediately knew something was wrong just by looking at me.

“Ah, come on Ali. It’ll be fun!” Felix said with a big smile on his face. “We get to hang out with WWE Superstar! It’s amazing!”

“How mad would you be if I was letting you enjoy this party with them by yourself?”

“Do you want me to cancel?”

“No, you can enjoy your night.” I told him. “But I’m really tired, I think I’m just going to watch a movie in my bed and get some rest.”

Felix insisted that he could cancel the whole thing but I didn’t want him to do that. I knew how important it was for him to hang out with those guys, I wasn’t going to ask him to cancel it. After all my best friend had done for me, I couldn’t ask him to give up his plans for me. I just needed some time alone. He could perfectly enjoy a little party while I was upstairs, relaxing in front of my favorite movie. Felix asked me if I was alright and I smiled at him. He was always so worried about me. Just like a big brother would be. I assured him that everything was fine and I kissed his cheek before I headed upstairs.

After I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth, I made my way to my bedroom. It wasn’t as big as the one Felix picked, but it was still pretty decent. You could say that the room once belong to a young teenager, judging by the bright colors, but I didn’t really care about it though. The bed seemed pretty comfortable and it was all that really mattered. I stripped off the towel that I had wrapped around me and put on an old t-shirt and a pair of black boyshort. I brushed my hair and quickly dried them with the towel before I pulled them up in a messy bun. I’d look like hell tomorrow morning, but I didn’t give a shit. I was on vacation, I wasn’t trying to look cute for anyone.

I heard the bell ring as I was getting my laptop out of its bag. Felix had already put some music on and I couldn’t stop myself from singing as I jumped on the bed. He and I had always loved hard rock music and I smiled when I heard the notes of our favorite song. I was glad to see that he stood by his taste in music and that he didn’t put on some pop just to fit in. I put the laptop on the bed, put the earphones in my ear, started the movie and lied down on my back with a smile on my face.

***

An hour later, my eyes started to be heavier. As I was about to close them for good, my eyes caught something by my bedroom door.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding all this time.” I heard when I pulled one of my earphones out.

Seth was standing there, smiling at me. The gray shirt that he was wearing made his skin look darker and he looked like a completely different person with his cap on. I had never seen him with one. His hair was either loose or tied in a messy bun and I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that he looked handsome with his reverse cap.

“Yeah… wasn’t feeling this whole party thing.”

“Ziggler is looking for you.”

“Ugh… please don’t tell him I’m here.”

I didn’t want to see him. I wasn’t in the mood for his flirting game.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Seth said, laughing. “Are you feeling OK?”

“I’m fine, thanks.” I answered with a smile. “I just wanted to relax and watch a movie.”

“What are you watching?” Seth asked as he entered the bedroom.

I hold my breath when he sat next to me on the bed. He grabbed the earphone that wasn’t in my ear and put it in his.

“Oh! Fight Club!” he said, smiling. “It’s one of my favorite movies.”

He took his cap off and put it on the nightstand before he lied down, resting his head on one of the pillows. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. I should’ve been mad at him but for some reason, I wasn’t. After a couple of seconds, he turned to me and frowned his eyebrows.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I said as I lied back down.

I tried to but for some reason I couldn’t stop my heart from racing in my chest.

***

I slowly groaned as I opened my eyes. It took me a minute to remember where I was. For a moment, I completely forgot that I was in this amazing house in Los Angeles. This always happens to me when I travel and sleep in another bed than mine. At least for the first few days. On the bed, the laptop screen was black and the earphone wasn’t in my ear anymore. Seth was still lying next to me and he was sleeping deeply. His hair wasn’t in a bun anymore. He must have messed it up during his sleep. I stared at him for a couple of minutes. He just looked so peaceful and for the first time since I met him, he wasn’t this arrogant asshole. I turned to look at the clock on the nightstand and heard him groaned. I lied back down and caught his gaze. His big brown chocolate eyes took my breath away for a couple of seconds.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” he said. “I fell asleep haven’t I?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit… what time is it?”

“It’s 5:30 in the morning.” I whispered.

The house was pretty quiet and I knew the party was over. Felix was probably in his bedroom, sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him up.

“Ugh… the guys must be waiting for me…”

“I’m pretty sure they already left.”

“I’m going to call a cab then.” he said as he was slowly getting up.

“You can stay…”

My eyes were heavy and I closed them back. I didn’t care if Seth was there or not. I just wanted to sleep.

“Are you sure?”

“You’ve been sleeping for the past two hours. An hour or two won’t make any difference.” I said with my eyes still closed. “And you’re a lot less annoying when you’re sleeping.”

Seth laughed and I couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re a lot less bitchy when you’re sleeping.”

I looked at him and frowned my eyebrows. I turned my back on him and got out of bed.

“Come on, I was joking.” Seth said, laughing. “Don’t leave.”

“Relax. I just wanted to put the laptop away and get under the blankets. I’m fucking cold.”

I shut down the laptop cover and put it on the desk before I jumped back into the bed. I turned my back on Seth and wrapped myself with the blanket. I felt him move next to me and I thought he was leaving. As I was about to turn around to check up on him, he put his arm around my waist and gently brought me closer to his chest.

“What are you doing?” I said, trying to hide the fact that he was making me nervous.

I had not been that close to a man since my ex-boyfriend broke up with me a year ago. My heart was beating a million miles an hour and I couldn’t breathe properly.

“You’re cold, I’m warming you.” he said with a sleepy voice, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I didn’t want to admit that I felt a lot better with my back against his chest. I tried to relax in his embrace, but it was easier said than done. I could feel his breath on my neck and it was sending shivers down my spine. It felt good. It felt weird. I couldn’t think straight. Seth sighed and moved a little bit closer to me. I was spooning with Seth freaking Rollins.

“Dude, it’s weird.”

“No, it’s not.” he replied. “Now shut up and sleep.”

“Don’t tell me to shut up.”

Seth’s breathing started to slow down. He was falling asleep and I was about to do the same.

“Asshole.” I whispered.

“Bitch.” he replied.

I couldn’t see him but I knew that he was smiling in my neck. I was smiling too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was little short, but I had to split this in half with the Chapter 8 or it would've been way too long.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up a few hours later, all curled up against Seth, my head resting on his chest. He had one of his arms wrapped around my shoulder and we weren’t under the sheets anymore. The warmth of his body against mine was so hot and I wasn’t cold anymore. I slowly moved away from him, hoping that I wouldn’t wake him up. He looked so peaceful and I didn’t want to bother him. I certainly didn’t want him to find us in this position. Obviously we ended up like that because we were sleeping. I didn’t cuddle him like that on purpose. I would never do that. I got out of bed and looked at the clock. It was 10:15, which meant that we slept a lot more than just a few hours. I put on some pajama pants and made my way downstairs. The house was still very quiet and judging by the amount of empty bottle of alcohol that was everywhere, I knew that Felix would be hangover. I wanted to start the air conditioning but it was already on. The house wasn’t hot at all. I was. Still, I was craving for caffeine. After I drank a large glass of water, I went to the espresso coffee machine and tried to figure out how the hell it was supposed to work. As I was about to lose patience and throw the damn thing away, I heard someone in the stairs.

“Need any help with that?” Felix said as he scratch the back of his head.

His eyes were barely staying opened as he blindly made his way to the kitchen. He groaned all the way to the stool near the counter and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at him.

“Rough night?” I asked.

“I’ll never drink tequila again…”

“You said that the last time.”

“Yeah but this time I mean it.” he said with his eyes closed. “Did you sleep well? I hope we didn’t bother you…”

The image of Seth in my bed immediately put a smile on my face but I tried to hide it from my friend. I thought about it for a second and yeah, I had to admit that I slept pretty well. Even though it felt kind of weird in the beginning, it ended up being nice. I didn’t want Felix to know about it. I wanted to grab my coffee and go back to my room before Seth woke up.

“Don’t worry, I slept like a baby.” I said, smiling. “You want some coffee?”

“Well, at least someone is in a good mood today and yes I need coffee. Make it strong, I have to work later.”

I asked my friend to show me how the machine was working and he gave me the instructions. As I was pouring the hot drink in a cup, I heard footsteps down the stairs.

_Fuck…_ I thought.

“Good morning.” Seth said with a big smile as he entered the kitchen.

He slowly walked toward us and sat on the stool next to Felix, who was looking at him in confusion. I was screwed. How was I supposed to explain to my best friend what Seth was still doing here?

“Hum... coffee.”

“You want some?” I asked him.

He said he would love to and then he turned to Felix.

“Man, you have to stop drinking. You look like shit.”

“What are you…?” Felix started, before he got lost in his thoughts.

“You should’ve wakened me up.” Seth said to me, as I was getting another cup.

“I didn’t want to… you looked… comfortable.”

I murmured the last words, hoping Felix’s mind would still be too confused to understand what I said. He couldn’t know.

“OH. MY. GOD!” Felix shouted, making me jump.

_Fuck…_ I thought again.

“You guys slept together?!”

“No!” I quickly respond.

I looked at Seth, silently asking him to shut up but he didn’t get the message. He was nodding and laughing.

“We totally did.” Rollins said with a smirk.

“We did not!”

The look on Felix face was priceless, but I hated it. All signs of his hangover was erased and he was now fully awake and ecstatic, clapping in his hands like a baby.

“I can’t believe she finally had sex after-“ he started.

“I swear to God Felix, if you finish that sentence, I will kill you.” I warned him, pointing my finger to his face. “We slept in the same bed. The key word here is SLEPT! Nothing happened.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Hey asshole, a little help would be much appreciated.” I said as I turn to Seth.

He was laughing and I was tempted to think about how cute he looked or how adorable his laugh was but right now, I just wanted to punch his face and order him to rescue me.

“She’s right.” Seth finally said to Felix. “Nothing happened.”

“Thank you.” I said with a big sarcastic smile to my Felix. “See? Nothing happened.”

“We just cuddle a little bit.”

“We did not!” I shouted

Both guys looked at me. One was smiling and the other had his mouth wide open, in shock. I felt my cheek getting red as I buried my face in my hand. I couldn’t believe it. Why the hell did Rollins say that?

“She slept in my arms.” Seth whispered to Felix, loud enough for me to understand.

“Oh honey, how did it feel to sleep in a man’s arms after all this time?”

“Alright. I warned you Fe’. It’s going to be a blood bath.”

As I was going to run after him, his phone started ringing. Felix shouted that he had to take it and he ran upstairs to get away from me.

“Why the hell did you tell him that?” I snapped at Seth.

“So… how long has it been since you’ve been in a man’s arms?” he asked with a smirk.

I looked at him in shock. I couldn’t believe that he just asked me that. The worst thing is that he was serious about his question. Even though he was smiling at me, I knew he was waiting for an answer.

“I won’t be discussing my sex life with you.”

“You’re so…” Seth started.

I lifted my hand in front of his face to shut him up.

“I swear to God Seth. If you say that I look cute when I’m mad, I will kill you too.”

“Actually, I was about to say that you look cute with red cheeks.”

“OK that’s it.” I snapped. “Get out!”

“You didn’t serve me my coffee yet!” he whined.

“And you’ll have it all over your pretty face if you don’t get out now.”

He was killing me. How was that even possible that I just had a pretty enjoyable time with him but yet he was pissing me off so badly? Why was he such an asshole? I wanted to punch his face every time he opened his damn cocky pretty mouth.

“Relax Ali.” he said as he put his hand on mine to calm me down. “We slept in the same bed and we cuddled a bit, it’s not a big deal.”

I gave him his coffee and he thanked me as he took a sip. The cup was hot as hell but he didn’t seem to care.

“It is for Felix.” I said on a more relaxed tone. “You have no idea how many times he’d been trying to hook me up with someone since…”

I stopped. I didn’t want to go down that road. Not with him.

“Since...?” Seth asked, encouraging me to continue.

_Since my abusive ex-boyfriend dumped me,_ I thought.

“Since I’m single.” I simply said.

“Listen, I’m sorry OK?” he apologized as he looked at me straight in the eyes. “I had no idea it was such a big deal.”

I grabbed my head with both hands and rested my elbows on the counter, hiding my face from Seth as I silently groaned.

“Ugh, I’m sorry.” I said. “It’s just that Felix can be intense sometimes…”

“Yeah I can see that.” Seth said as he took another sip of his coffee. “Don’t let him control your life like that.”

“He’s not controlling me.” I quickly said to defend my best friend.

Felix was not controlling my life. Or maybe he was but it was for my own good. I knew he was doing it to help me. If it hadn’t been for him, I don’t know if I would still be alive. I owe him my life and I guess that meant he could pretty much take control of it sometimes.

“And if you ever need help with…” he started as he winked to me.

“Don’t finish that.” I said, shaking my head and smiling.

“I’m just kidding.”

He laughed, finished his coffee and looked at his cellphone. He told me that he had to go and a part of me was kind of sad while the other was glad that I wouldn’t see his arrogant smile anymore.

“I would like to say that I had a great time with you, but you might get all crazy psycho on me so I won’t say it.” he said before he grabbed the jacket he had left on the couch. “So I will just tell you to take care Alison.”

I let out a small laugh as I waved to him. He was unbelievable. I started cleaning the kitchen when my friend finally came back downstairs. He was lucky that I wasn’t mad anymore. Apparently, Seth had the ability to calm me down as quickly as he could piss me off.

“Where’s Seth?”

“He left.” I simply said.

“I can’t believe you two had sleep together.” Felix said as he sat on his stool.

I thought my friend would have the decency to stop talking to me about this but apparently he didn’t.

“I didn’t sleep-.”

“Yeah I know, I know… but how did that even happened?”

“I don’t know Fe’!” I shouted as I raised my hand in the air. “He just showed up at my door and he lied down in my bed to watch a movie with me and then we both fell asleep.”

“That’s it?”

I looked at him and as much as I didn’t want to have that conversation with him, I couldn’t help but to smile when he smiled.

“You won’t let it go huh?”

“He said you cuddled…”

I couldn’t get away with it. I told him everything. I told him about how I woke up in the middle of the night, telling Seth that he could stay. About how I was freezing and Seth wrapped his arms around me to keep me warm. About how I woke up in his arms hours later.

“How did it feel?” Felix asked me.

My heart was pounding in my chest just thinking about having to answer that question out loud. I didn’t want to. But Felix wouldn’t let me go until he knew everything.

“It was great OK?” I let out in a sigh. “You’re happy?”

“I can’t believe that you didn’t have sex with him though…” Felix said laughing.

“And why is that so hard to believe?”

“When do you see him again?” Felix asked without answering my question.

“I won’t.” I simply said as I walked back to my room.


	9. Chapter 9

I’ve been gone one week. One single week and they couldn’t do it properly. I had been back from Los Angeles for two weeks now and I was still cleaning up the mess they made. Mandy proved once and for all that she couldn’t take my spot and Bert knew it. He wouldn’t admit it though and he just kept telling me about how it wasn’t that bad. It was. I never should’ve let them. Now I had to do everything twice and we didn’t have time for that. My level of stress was higher than it was before I took off to California. At least, I could say I had a great time there. I was able to fully relaxed and forget about my crappy life. But now that I was back, I had to deal with it.

I parked my car in front of my apartment, grabbed my bag and got out. Felix was already home. He didn’t have to work overtime. He was the lucky one. He had a week in California and he didn’t have to stay late in order to fix everything. I was jealous. After I put my stuff on the couch, I immediately headed for my room. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to my friend. I wasn’t mad at him. I was just pissed off at the whole world. Today was probably one of the worst days I had ever had since I’ve been working there. I needed to blow off some steam and the best way to calm me down was to put on my training outfit and go outside for a long run.

“Hey.” Felix said as entered my bedroom. “Where are you going?”

I continued to change even though my friend was now sitting on my bed. I didn’t mind at all. I turned my back on him, unclip my bra and tossed it on the floor. I put a sports bra instead and a bright pink tank top on top of it.

“Going out for a run.” I mumbled, trying to stay calm.

“There’s a storm coming our way honey, you should stay home.”

“I can’t. I need to get out of here.” I said, a little too harsh.

He didn’t deserve my wrath, but I couldn’t help it. I immediately apologized to him, telling him about how stupid Mandy and Bert were.

“I’m sorry Ali… I wish I can do something to help.”

After I put on my shorts, I took a look outside. They’ve been talking about the storm all freaking day long on the radio and for once, I think they were right. The sky was dark but it was still pretty far away. I should have enough time to go out for a quick run.

“I won’t be out for a long time.” I told Felix as I grabbed my earphones and my cell. “I’ll be back before it gets ugly.”

I didn’t give Felix any chances to say something as I made my way outside. I set up my training playlist, put the earphone in my ears and smile as soon as I heard the first note of my favorite song. I was already feeling a lot better.

***

I’d been running for about fifteen minutes when I finally decided to slow down a bit. My lungs were burning with every breath I took and my legs were literally shaking. Running wasn’t really my thing. I loved it so much but I wasn’t good at it. My cardio was so bad and I wasn’t running enough to notice any improvements. I slowed down to the point where I was now walking instead. I took my cellphone and scrolled down my playlist to find the perfect song that would give me the fuel to keep on going. After I put it on, I started running again but then, my eyes caught someone who was familiar to me. When that person smiled at me, I stopped and turned around.

“Hey!” I said, in surprise.

“Still stalking me?” Seth said, smiling.

I let out a nervous laugh. His hair was pulled in a messy bun and he looked like he just got out of bed. He had bags in his hand and it looked like he was coming back from the grocery store. I had not seen Seth Rollins since we slept in the same bed three weeks ago and I found myself thinking about how I missed his smile.

“I didn’t know WWE was in town this week-end.”

“They’re not.” he simply said.

“Then what are you doing here?”

I was beginning to think that maybe he was really stalking me. I thought about my job for a second, wondering if maybe my boss scheduled another interview with him. I knew for sure that we didn’t. I would’ve remembered it. Seth Rollins was not someone you just happened to forget about.

“I live down the street.”

“I thought you lived in Davenport.”

“Someone’s been checking my bio.” he said with a smirk.

I sighed heavily. He was back at being this annoying cocky asshole. Surprisingly, I missed it. The wind was beginning to blow very hard and the rain had also started.

“May I remind you that I’d been forced to write an article about you?”

“Oh yeah, how can I forget? You were such a lovely interviewer that day.” he said as he burst into laughter. “But seriously, I live in Davenport but I also have a house here. When I was in developmental, I thought it would be great to have my own place here. I ended up being too attached to that place that I never wanted to sell it so I come here from time to time when I have some time off.”

As I was about to say something, lightning stroke not far away from us and the thunder that came with it was so loud that it made us jump.

“Shit.” I shouted.

“Come on.”

I didn’t have time to get my thoughts together that Seth was grabbing my head and we both started running under the rain that was now intense. We made it to his hous and after he quickly unlocked his door, he pushed me inside. I was so wet that it looked like I had taken a shower with my clothes on. I looked and felt horrible, a mixture of rain and sweat dripping down my back.

“That was crazy.” Seth said as he was trying to catch his breath.

He dropped his bags near his couch as I was trying to take a look outside. I couldn’t see anything because of the rain that was crashing onto the window. It was so dark that it seemed like it was very late in the night although it was only 6:00 pm. It was scaring the crap out of me.

“Fuck…” I let out as I burst into laughter. “I told Felix I was coming back before the storm.”

“I’m not letting you leave until it’s over. You’re going to die out there.”

He was right. There was no way in hell that I would go outside. I wanted to call Felix to ask him if he could come pick me up, but then I thought that I didn’t want him to drive in this weather. I could handle being in the same house as Rollins. I shared a bed with him and I survived. What was a couple of hours compared to this?

“I’m going to change. I’ll see if maybe I have something that could fit you.”

I was about to decline his offer, but my clothes were drenched in water and it was grossing me out. I didn’t feel comfortable at all. I needed a shower. Was that something I could ask?

_Hey dude, I’m going in the shower._

That thought made me laugh so much. Seth came back from his room with clothes in his hand.

“Here… I think this should be alright.”

“Thanks.”

I had to ask for the shower. I was not going to change clothes without cleaning myself.

“Do you think that I could…” I started, not knowing if I should finish my sentence. “Borrow your shower?”

Can we even _borrow_ that? Seth simply nodded and pointed me where the bathroom was, telling me where I could find clean towels. I thanked him, happy that he didn’t seem to think I was weird for asking that. I put his clothes on the counter and closed the door behind me.

_Great. No lock on the fucking door. Very clever Rollins,_ I thought as I heavily sigh.

The bathroom was surprisingly big. The shower was placed in a very intimate spot and we couldn’t see the glass door from where I was standing. Maybe I should ask Felix to improve our bathroom. Like that, I wouldn’t have to wait hours before brushing my teeth because he was in the shower and that I was going to see everything though our glass door. I loved my friend, but there were still some things I didn’t ever want to see.

I took my disgusting clothes off and started the shower. I waited until the water was very hot before I got in there. In a corner, there was a million bottles of shampoo, hair conditioner, shower gel and all other kinds of stuff. It was hard to believe that this shower belonged to a guy. Even I didn’t have that much stuff in mine. I grabbed a bottle of shower gel, opened it and smelled it. They say that odors can bring back old memories. This scent sent shivers down my spine as I remembered about the night Seth and I cuddled in my bed back in Los Angeles. This was definitely the one he used when he showered that day. I thought about the unlocked bathroom door and I started breathing heavily. Thinking that he could just come in and join me in the shower was making me so hot that I had to turn the water to cold. Why the hell was I thinking about that? All I could see in my head was his hands all over me, his chest pressed against my back, his mouth on my skin, kissing and biting the sweet spot I have in my neck.

I jumped when I heard the door open, bringing me back to reality. My heart was pounding in my chest as I instantly covered my body with my arms, even though I knew he couldn’t see me from where he was standing.

“I found other clothes for you. I think they will fit better.” Seth said. “I’ll put them on the counter.”

“T-Thanks.” I stuttered as I heard him close the door on his way back.

I quickly washed myself, got out of the shower and wrapped the towel around me. I was already feeling better. If Seth had to come back in the bathroom, at least I’d have something to cover me. On the counter, he had put a pair of sports shorts and a black graphic t-shirt. On top of it, there was a pair a red boxer short. I looked at it for a second and laughed. There was no way in hell that Seth’s ass could fit in these, not that I looked at it. Yeah OK, I may have looked at it once, but that's not the point. The underwear was way too tiny for him. I shook my head, trying to stop laughing as I dressed up in his clothes. I dried my hair with the towel before I put them up in a bun. I looked horrible and his clothes were way too big for me, but at least I wasn’t in my dirty smelly training gear anymore.

I got out of the bathroom and asked Seth if I could wash my clothes. After I put everything in his washer, I joined him in the living room. He was sitting down on the couch and he was looking at his phone.

“They say the storm is going to last all night long.” he said, as he raised his eyes to look at me.

I could see a smile forming on his lips.

“Don’t laugh!” I warned him.

“I’m not laughing.”

“But you’re smiling.”

“You said no laughing, you never said anything about smiles.” he said with a smirk. “You look cuter in those than me anyway.”

“I’m curious. Do you really fit in those underwear?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“When I was in developmental, I was very small.”

I laughed as I sat next to him. I grabbed my cellphone that was on his table to call my friend to let him know the storm hadn’t killed me. Yet.

“Have you eaten?” Seth asked as I was searching for Felix’s number in my contact list.

“No.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

I thanked him and waited until he was in the kitchen to call my friend.

“Hey Fe’, it’s me.” I said when I reached his voicemail. “Listen, I got caught up in the storm. You were right. Again. I shouldn’t have left the house. So hum, don’t worry about me, I’m safe. I made it to my dad’s house before it got crazy. I’ll spend the evening here, until it calms down. I’ll call you later.”

I didn’t want him to know I was with Seth. I remembered his face when he found out we slept in the same bed and I was not ready to face another one of his interrogation session.


	10. Chapter 10

Three hours later, we were sitting in the living room, talking about everything and nothing. I was on the floor and Seth was on his couch. He was emptying the bottle on wine in my glass as he told me all about his crazy life on the road. We just finished dinner and I had to admit that he was an amazing cook. Yeah, I was always very hungry after a run, but his steak was still amazing. Maybe the wine was talking, but everything was just perfect. After the day that I had, it was nice to finally feel good.

“So…” I started with a smirk. “Do you have a girl in every town?”

“No, I don’t.” Seth answered, laughing. “I have met a lot of girls on the road, but none of them are _my_ girls.”

“Pff… I don’t believe you.”

He just seemed to be that kind of guy. Maybe it was judgmental of me to think that way, but Seth Rollins was clearly a player and girls were crazy about him.

“I’m sure there’s a girl waiting for you in every town you’ve been to.” I added.

“Oh yeah? So are you my girl from Orlando?”

“Eww no!” I said with a disgusted face.

“Oh no, you’re right. You’re not my girl, you’re my stalker.”

I laughed as I finished my glass of wine and put it on the table. I took a look outside and noticed that the storm was still raging. There was no way in hell that I would be able to get back home tonight. I grabbed my cellphone and texted my friend not to worry about me. I told him that I was staying at my father’s for the night and that I would call him in the morning.

“You want to watch a movie?” Seth asked me as I put my cellphone back on the table.

“Sure.”

I took place next to him on the couch as he stood up to take a look at his DVD collection.

“The conjuring?” he asked.

A horror movie. Really? I could clearly see where he was going with this. It was a classic move. Watch a horror movie so the girl would get scared and then cuddle the guy. Then the guy would pass his arm around her to reassure her. She would bury her face in his neck while he’d be kissing his head and told her she doesn’t have to be scared. Then, we all know how this whole thing would end.

“Nice try smart-ass, but I’m not drunk enough for that!”

“My bar is full.” he said with a smirk. “What do you want?”

“Not gonna happen buddy!”

“Hey! Can’t blame a man for trying.” he added as he shrugged. “I was trying to do you a favor.”

The thought of him and me in his shower came back and I blushed instantly.

“You know, since you had not been with a man in a very long time.”

Seth winked at me but my smile faded instantly. Images of my ex-boyfriend came to my mind and I didn’t like it at all. I hated to be reminded of that. Even though it was a long time ago, it was still a very sensitive subject. I was getting better and stronger every day, but I still had problems getting over it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Seth immediately said when he noticed how quickly my face changed.

It wasn’t his fault. He just had no idea what happened. I couldn’t blame him.

“It’s fine… it’s just that my latest relationship didn’t end well and it brings bad memories.” I said.

“What happened?”

Seth just stood there, looking at me, a pile of DVD in his hand, waiting for an answer. Time froze for a moment. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there. Talking about it would make it so much real. He must’ve noticed how uncomfortable it made me because he immediately said that we didn’t have to talk about it if I didn’t want to. The thing is that I needed to talk about it. I had to talk about it to someone other than Felix. I just didn’t know where to start. I was ashamed of my past.

“Let’s just say that I loved a guy a lot more than he loved me.” I said as I looked down.

That was the best way to resume my relationship with my ex-boyfriend.

“Yeah, I know the feeling.”

“No, you don’t.”

I didn’t mean to snap at him but I couldn’t help it.

“My ex was abusive.”

There, I said it. The tension that was building up in my body released as soon as the words came out of my mouth and I felt free. I never told anyone except my best friend. I felt so relieved. Seth, however, immediately tensed up when he heard me say that and he was looking at me with widening eyes. He clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles whitened.

“Not physically, but mentally.” I clarified. “I love him so much that I couldn’t see clearly what was going on. Felix was begging me to get out of there but I just couldn’t. I loved him too much. When he finally dumped me for some other chick, I thought my world ended.”

As I was talking, Seth sat back down on the couch without saying a word, listening carefully to my story. The words were coming out of my mouth a lot faster than I wanted too. I just couldn’t stop talking. I started the story, I had to finish it. I thought it was going to be painful, but surprisingly, it felt great. I guess I could call that progress. Two months ago, I couldn’t talk about it without crying and now I was telling everything to a complete stranger. A stranger who shared my bed one night, but still a stranger.

“After that day, I sank to the bottom and Felix forced me to live with him. I think he was scared of what could happen to me. Can’t blame him. Even I was scared…”

“When did this happen?” Seth asked, finally breaking his silence.

“A year ago.” I sighed. “Yes, I’m still shaken up about this whole thing.”

“I’m sor-.”

“Don’t. Don’t apologize.”

I knew he was sorry. Everybody was. I didn’t need to hear it. I didn’t need his pity. I just needed to get it out of my chest once and for all. Felix tried to convince me to see a therapist, but I refused. He told me it would be good to talk about it to someone, but I didn’t want to believe him. Now that I was opening up to Seth, I could say that my friend was actually right.

“I’m better now.” I told him to reassure him. “But I can’t just erase nine years of my life like that.”

“Nine years?!” Seth said in shocked. “You’ve been in an abusive relationship for nine freaking years?”

It wasn’t like that when it started. In the beginning, it was a very healthy relationship. We loved each other, we used to make a lot of plans for the future. I used to think he was the perfect guy. Then we hit our four-year anniversary and it started to get out of control. That’s when the jealousy begun. I was still a journalist at the time and I had to travel a lot for my job, meeting all kinds of sports celebrities. Guys started hitting on me and Patrick hated it. I can’t blame him, but I couldn’t do anything about it. He started telling me that I wasn’t pretty enough, that I wasn’t good enough, that my dad had every right to deny me as his daughter, that my only friend was a gay guy because girls would think I’m hideous and that they wouldn’t want to be seen with me. He hated Felix. I never knew if it was because he was a homophobic jerk or because he was jealous of my relation with him. As years went by, it became worse. I didn’t want to get out of my house because I started believing him. I stopped eating because I was fat. Well, I thought I was. I started drinking to forget how much of a failure I was. I nearly lost my job because I wouldn’t show up to my interviews. My dad freaked out on me one day, telling me that he wouldn’t have any other choice than to fire me, even if I was his daughter. I was a complete mess, but I loved Patrick. He was my anchor. He was my first love. He was my everything. He used to tell me that he was saying all those things to make me a better person, to make me change who I was. On the other end, I had Felix who was trying his best to keep me sane, to remind me that I was already a good person and that Patrick was bad for me. I was torn between the two most important men in my life but I couldn’t decide which one was the best for me.

“I guess he got tired of me at one point. He showed up one day at our house, with a new chick around his arm. He simply told me that she was his new girlfriend and that I had to pack my stuff and get the fuck out of his life.” I said. “So I did what he asked and went to my dad’s house. He wasn’t there so I just sat down on the porch and cried for hours, until Felix showed up and dragged me to his apartment. I’m still living there a year later.”

Seth stared at me without saying anything. I could tell that he wanted to talk but he had a hard time getting his thoughts together.

“I just can’t picture you as this dependent girlfriend that never says anything.”

“Why? ’Cause I’m an angry bitch?” I said, laughing.

“Well, I wouldn’t have said it like that.” he said with a smile as he looked down. “I don’t really know you, but from what I’ve seen, you don’t take shit from anybody.”

“Well, at least we can say that something good came out of all this shit.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up, I had no idea…”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m fine now, really.” I said as I looked down. “Felix brings it up every single day anyway, so I’m pretty used to it.”

I told Seth about Felix’s theory that I should just find someone that would make me forget about my ex. In theory, it sounded like a very good plan, but when it came the time to meet new guys, I knew that I wasn’t ready at all for that. Seth smiled at me and stood up.

“Comedy then?” he asked with a bright smile.

I nodded. Comedy sounded perfect right now.


	11. Chapter 11

I yawned as I stretched myself, bringing the blanket closer to my face. I slowly opened my eyes but the brightness of the sun through the window blinded me. I turned around in the bed and groaned as I close them back, hoping I would go back to sleep. Something didn’t feel right, but I decided to let it go. I just want to go back to that dream. My heart stopped beating for a second when I suddenly realized what was wrong. I had no idea where I was. I sat on the bed and looked around, trying to find a clue of what might have happened. When I saw a picture of Seth and what seemed like his family in the frame on the nightstand, I immediately calm down. I was in his room. How the hell did I end up here? Last night was a blur and I barely could remember how the night ended. After he put the movie on, he came back on the couch and we watched it, his laugh breaking the silence from time to time when there was a funny part. I remembered laughing at him. He had the most amazing laugh but the funniest at the same time. Half-way through the movie, I remembered that I lied down on my side and my eyes were getting heavier. I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch. I smiled when I finally remembered how I ended up in his bed. I could still see him, picking me up from the couch and bringing me here. I remembered whining that I could walk by myself and Seth telling me to shut up for once. He gently put me on his bed, asking me if I needed anything. I wrapped myself in his blanket and shook my head. I remembered that he wished me good-night before he left the room, closing the door on his way out.

I got out of the bed and dragged myself in the hallway. Seth was lying on the couch, shirtless, a blanket covering his legs. The TV was still on and I didn’t know if he was asleep so I quietly entered the living room just in case. I didn’t want to wake him up. When he lifted his head to look at me, I smiled.

“I would’ve been fine on the couch you know?” I said.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked, ignoring what I’d just said.

He moved, leaving enough space on the couch for me to sit down next to him.

“Yeah I did.”

“Then stop whining.”

I looked at him and frowned my eyebrows, faking my anger. I hated when he said things like that. Yeah, I knew I was a whining bitch, but I didn’t like people to remind me. Especially not him.

“You want a coffee?” he asked as he stood up.

His pajama pants were low on his hips and I tried my best not to stare at his chest.

“Yeah, I would love that.” I said, happy that I didn’t stutter.

That guy was just perfect and he was sexy as hell. I could say whatever I wanted about him, but I couldn’t deny that I was attracted by him. Who wouldn’t be, honestly?

“Hey asshole!”

He turned around and looked at me with his famous cocky grin.

“Put your damn shirt on.” I said as I threw him the white shirt that was still on the couch.

He caught it and laughed as he made his way to the kitchen. I grabbed his blanket and wrapped myself in it as I lie on my side, smiling. At that moment, everything just felt right.

“Hey bitch, what do you want in your coffee?”

I laughed when I heard him call me that. As I was yelling that I wanted it black, someone entered by the front door. I sat back on the couch when I saw this tall blonde girl standing in front of me, her face distorted by shock.

“Who the fuck are you?” she snapped at me.

Seth came back in the living room with our coffee cups in hand.

“Catherine?”

“Who the fuck is she?” she repeated to him.

“Who the fuck are _you_? I asked at the same time.

“I’m his girlfriend!”

“Ex-girlfriend.” Seth pointed out as he turned to me.

I had no idea why he felt the need to point out the fact that she was his ex and not his girlfriend. I could see the anger in his face and I could tell that he was not happy at all to see her.

“Seriously Seth?” Catherine said. “You’re bringing back ring rats into our house now?”

“OK.” I snapped as I stood up. “I have no idea what a ring rat is, but that didn’t seem like a compliment at all.”

Anger was filling up my whole body as I started to walk toward her. Seth stopped me by putting his hands on my shoulders, calming me down instantly. No one other than Felix had the power to calm me down like that, but apparently Rollins had the same gift as my best friend.

“Don’t.” he said as he looked at me in the eyes. “Please just shut up for now, OK?”

“And she’s even wearing your clothes!” Catherine shouted, unaware of what could happen to her if she didn’t shut up too. “What the fuck Seth?”

He rolled his eyes and turned to her, staying in front of me as if he was afraid of what I might do to her. He did the right thing. I spent 5 years of my life being told that I wasn’t good enough, that I was a failure and that I wasn’t pretty. I promise myself that it would never happen again. I certainly would not let his crazy ex-girlfriend talk to me like that. I could see in her face that she hated me. She was probably thinking that I was his new hook-up but I didn’t care what she thought. I just wanted to punch her in the mouth for calling me a ring rat, even though I had no idea what it really meant.

“First of all.” Seth said to her, his voice filled with anger. “It’s my house. Not our house. Secondly, Alison is a friend that needed a place to stay for the night, not that it concerns you in any way.”

“Then why does she have your cloth-.” she started.

“Hey!” he snapped. “I said it didn’t concern you, OK? Now, you and I are going to finish this conversation outside, so that you could explain to me why the fuck do you still have a key to MY house.”

He opened the door, told her to get out before he turned to me to let me know that he would be right back. I shook my head and laughed. I felt bad for Rollins, but a part of me wasn’t surprised at all that his ex was crazy. I picked up my training clothes in the drier and went to the bathroom to change. When I came back in the living room a few minutes later, Seth was sitting on the couch, his head in his hand, clearly lost in his thoughts.

“I left your clothes in your bedroom.” I said, making him jump. “Everything OK?”

“Yeah…” he said as he looked at me.

I could tell that he was really pissed off just by looking at his eyes. He was so transparent.

“Your girlfriend seems like a nice girl.”

“ _Ex_ -girlfriend.” he said, insisting on the word ex. “She’s my _ex_ -girlfriend.”

“Dude, it’s alright. It’s not like you owe me anything.”

Seth seemed to feel the need to justify everything. I had no idea why it was such a big deal. I didn’t care who that bitch was. I just didn’t want her to disrespect me. But for Rollins, it seemed to be important that I know she wasn’t his girlfriend anymore. Coming from a guy who never gave a shit what people were thinking about him, it was weird.

“She had no right coming here and insult you like that.” he said as he shook his head. “She just pisses me off so much.”

“Yeah I can see that… you think you’ll survive this?” I asked, trying to make him laugh.

I hated to see him so depressed. I wanted the cocky smile back.

“Yeah...” he said with a small smile.

It wasn’t the famous grin, but I could still live with that.

“So… what’s a ring rat anyway?”

I wasn’t going to leave his house without knowing.

“A ring rat is a term we use to describe girls that just want to sleep with wrestlers.” he explained. “Something you’re clearly not. I’m sorry she called you that.”

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.” I said.

Seth laughed, saying that he noticed. He thought I was going to kill her. He wasn’t wrong. That’s what I might have done if he hadn’t stopped me. Well, maybe not kill her for real but she might have ended up with a pretty bad black eye. Seth apologized another time and asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I thanked him, saying that I should go. Just in case the crazy bitch wanted to come back. I had enough drama for the day and I told Felix that I would be home in the morning. I didn’t want him to worry and call at my dad’s house to talk to me. My friend could not know that I spent the night at Rollins’ house.

“Text me the next time you’re in town.” I told him. “We could go out with Felix. It could be fun.”

He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t hide his surprise.

“Sure. I’ll do.” he said with a smile. “So I’m not an asshole anymore?”

I started laughing. I kissed his cheek and told him he would always be one.

“Thanks for everything.” I said as I made my way to the door.

“Anytime.”


	12. Chapter 12

It was finally lunch time. I had a pretty decent morning at job which was a good thing since work was normally very crappy. For the past couple of weeks, my boss had stayed off my back. I think he finally understood that he was putting way too much pressure on me. I entered the kitchen and sighed when I saw that Mandy was already there. We still didn’t get along. It sucked ‘cause we used to be good friends, but things happened and I just needed to cut her out of my life. I briefly smiled at her before I grabbed my lunch at sat at another table. As soon as I sat down, my phone started ringing, warning me that I had received a text message. I took it out of my back pocket and looked at the screen, smiling. It was Seth.

_I’m in town for the week-end. You guys want to hang out?_ he wrote.

Seth, Felix and I have been hanging out from time to time for the last three months. Since I was forced to spend the night at Rollins’ house, we became very good friends. Each time he was in town, he would text us to see if we wanted to hang out with him. We mostly went into bars or stayed at our apartment, watching movies and eating crap. I quickly responded that I had to check with Felix as my best friend entered the kitchen, being loud like he always was.

“Finally, time to eat!” he shouted as he heavily sat on the chair next to mine.

Mandy looked at him frowning her eyebrows. I saw her jumped when Felix barged into the room and it made me laugh internally.

“Hey babe.” I said to him. “Seth is in town for the week-end. He wants to know if you want to hang out.”

“I have a date on Saturday, but we can hang out after.”

Someone entered the room and asked for Felix. He whined loudly that he just sat down. Apparently, our boss needed to see him and when Bert needed to see someone, you can’t just say no.

“Fine I’m coming.” he signed as he stood up. “See you later bitch.”

My best friend was clearly spending too much time with Seth. I missed the times when he used to call me honey. It sounded so much better than "bitch". But according to Fe’, if Rollins could call me that, so could he. They were two against me, I couldn’t do anything but roll my eyes in annoyance.

_See you Saturday asshole_ , I wrote to Seth, smiling.

I put my phone on the table and started eating my lunch. I could see that Mandy was looking at me but I tried to act as if I wasn’t seeing her. I didn’t really want to talk with her.

“So…” she started, making me roll my eyes. “Are you and Seth together?”

I looked at her, frowning my eyebrows.

“Why would we be together?”

“I don’t know. You’ve been mentioning him a lot lately and he just asked you if you wanted to hang out this week-end so I thought…”

“Well, you thought wrong.” I said, interrupting her. “We’re very good friends but that’s it. There’s nothing going on between us.”

We really became close in these past few months but he was still just a friend. We were having a lot of fun together and that was it.

“So he’s single then?”

“Why?” I asked, laughing. “You want a date with him?”

I was joking but the look on Mandy’s face told me that she really was serious. She wasn’t laughing at all.

“Oh God, you were serious.” I said, trying to hold back my smile.

“Yeah… I mean… it would be great if you could talk to him about me.” she shyly said.

Since when Mandy was shy? I wanted to burst into laughter but I couldn’t. It would be too mean even for me. I managed to keep it together and I had no idea how I did it. Why would I talk to Seth about Mandy? She’d been a complete bitch for the past few months so why the hell would I do her that kind of favor?

“Alright, I’ll talk to him this week-end.”

There was no chance in hell that I would talk to him about her, but she didn’t need to know that. Seth was single and dating girls, but he certainly didn’t need a bitch like Mandy. She thanked me and I told her I had to get back to work as I grabbed all my stuff. I had to get out of there before I burst into laughter.

***

I was sitting at the bar on a stool waiting for Seth to arrive. I ordered a glass of wine and smile to the barman. He was clearly flirting with me and he was kind of cute. He offered to pay for my drink but I politely declined his offer. Seth entered the bar and I waved to him when our gazes crossed.

“Hey asshole, over here!” I yelled to him.

The barman’s smile vanished as he told me he had other clients to take care of. Obviously, he thought Seth and I were together. I wanted to tell him that he thought wrong, but he was already gone.

“Somebody’s feeling fancy tonight.” Seth said as he sat on the stool next to mine. “Since when do you drink wine in a bar?”

“Since the time I’ve been sick on beer. I can’t even handle the smell now.”

“Oh you mean since the last time I was in town and you puked on me?”

“I did not puked on you!” I said in my defense. “I was about to be sick and you had the brilliant idea to catch me as I was turning around to puke on the floor. It was your fault, not mine!”

The last time Seth was in town, we went crazy. With Felix, we decided to go out in multiple bars in the same night. We wanted to do as much as we could, telling ourselves we would drink our beer as fast as we could before hitting the next one. It was stupid. Really stupid. I barely remembered the end of that night. I just knew that the three of us ended up sleeping on the living room floor. As we were talking about that crazy night, the barman came back to ask Seth what he wanted to drink. He barely looked at me and brought a beer to my friend.

“Where’s Fe’?”

“Over there.” I said as I pointed my friend. “He’s waiting for his date.”

“Oh, you’re playing backup tonight?” Seth asked with a smile.

I nodded and smiled. It was our new escape plan in case the date was going wrong. If Felix wasn’t happy with the guy, he would pretend he needed to go to the restroom and then he would signal me to take care of his date. I would either play the jealous girlfriend or tell the guy that Felix ran away.

“So… how are you doing bitch?” Seth asked after he waved to Felix.

“I’m good.” I said. “What about you? Any new girls in your life?”

“Nah, they are all crazy.”

I thought about Mandy for a second, wondering if I should tell him about her, but I decided to let it go. She reminded me too much of his ex, Catherine, and I knew for sure that he didn’t want anything to do with that kind of girl anymore.

“What about you?” Seth asked, raising his eyebrows. “How was your date last week?”

“I see that my best friend has a big mouth.” I said as my eyes threw knives to Felix that was now talking with his date.

“Come on Ali, you can’t blame him.” Seth said, defending my friend once again. “He was just so happy that you started dating guys again. So, how was it?”

I thought about it for a second and sighed. It was awful. The guy was a complete self-centered jerk and I was glad that Felix was there to rescue me.

“It was horrible.” I simply said. “Actually, the guy reminded me of you.”

Seth burst into laughter.

“Very funny!” he said as he finishes his beer, signaling the barman that he wanted another one.

I stared at the man when he opened Seth’s bottle and thought to myself that he really was sexy. I was kind of hoping that my friend hadn’t shown up when he did. Maybe that little cute barman and I would have a date by now. I tried to catch his attention to let him know that I was available but he didn’t look back at me.

“I think he’s not into you.” Seth said when he noticed that I was looking at the guy.

“Yeah, but he was before you showed up, asshole.”

He burst into laughter and asked me if I wanted him to go so that I could have a little one on one that with the hot barman. I told him to shut up but I was laughing too. The barman was cute, but I wasn’t going to end up the night with him. I was not like that. Maybe I could just subtly give him a piece of paper with my phone number on it and a note saying: I am SINGLE by the way.

“Sooo…” Seth started with a smile on his face. “I need to ask you for a favor.”

This wasn’t good at all. I hated when people started their sentences like this. Especially guys. Especially Seth Rollins. The smirk on his face was scary as fuck.

“Remember when I told you my sister was getting married?” he started, without even waiting for me to say if he actually could ask me for one.

“Yeah…” I said as I took a sip of wine.

Where the hell was he going with this?

“Well, I need you to come with me to the wedding.”

Those words made me choke on my drink, making me spill it all back in the glass. My throat was burning and my eyes immediately filled with water. There was nothing worse than to choke on wine.

“Excuse me?” I asked as I took a napkin to wipe my mouth and the table.

“I need you to be my date for my sister’s wedding.” he repeated.

“Sorry, I don’t do weddings.”

“I didn’t say I want you to, but I NEED you to. And you owe me one so you don’t have a choice.”

I argued with him that I didn’t owe him anything but he reminded me about the time he brought a very drunken best friend of mine home.

_Shit, I did owe him one_ , I thought.

I hated weddings. I’ve been to too many and I couldn’t take more. After my mom died, my dad had remarried at least three or four times and every time it was worse than the time before. At one point, I stopped going. I warned him that I wouldn’t go anymore but it didn’t stop him for getting married again.

“Please Ali.” Seth begged me. “I promised my sister I would find a date for her wedding…”

Maybe I could mention Mandy. She would absolutely love going to a wedding with Seth Freaking Rollins, but just thinking about how she was going to brag about it for months, I decided to shut up.

“I don’t have a dress.” I simply said, hoping it would settle the whole thing.

“I’ll buy you one.”

_Shit_ , I thought.

“I don’t dance.”

“You won’t have to.”

“I hate weddings.”

“I don’t care.”

I was running out of excuses. He wasn’t going to let it go. There was no escape possible.

“It’ll cost you a LOT.” I finally said, earning a smile from him.

He didn’t care. He needed me to be there and he was willing to do whatever it takes for me to say yes.

“When do we leave?”

“The wedding is next week-end, I’ll pick you up Thursday night.” he said.

“I hate you.”

Seth wrapped his arm around me and gave me a tight hug. I groaned in his chest when he thanked me. What was he thanking me for? It’s not like I had a choice. I was forced into this whole mess. When he let go of me, I saw Felix walking toward us with a worried face. He signaled me that his date was horrible and I knew it was time for me to take care of my other friend.

“I got it.” Seth said as he stood up.

He was about to play our game and I couldn’t help but smile. I watched Rollins sat on the chair Felix was sitting on a few minutes ago. Not long after, the other guy stood up and quickly left the bar. When Seth came back, he had his cocky smile on.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“I told him Felix was my boyfriend and that he was a cheating son of a bitch.”

“Wow, you’re getting good at this.”

“I learned from the best.” he said with a big smile.

“Flattering me won’t reduce your debt in any way.” I told him. “You’ll owe me big for forcing me to your stupid wedding thing.”

Seth winked to me and said he was ready to repay me anytime I wanted. I frowned my eyebrows and told him to shut up.


	13. Chapter 13

I never realized what I got myself into until Seth pulled his car in his driveway in Davenport, Iowa. Our plane landed about an hour ago but it was still all a blur in my head. The view of Seth’s house made me realize what was going on and I was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole thing. There was already a car in the parking and Seth had this confused look on his face.

“What’s my sister doing here?” he mumbled as he opened the door and got out of the car.

“I can’t believe I let you drag me into this.” I said as I stepped out of the car too.

Seth opened the trunk and we retrieved our respectable suitcase before we slowly walked to his front door. As a perfect gentleman, he let me in first and as he entered, he called for his sister. A tall brunette came out of one of the rooms and she immediately smiled when she saw him. There was no doubt they were brother and sister. They were the exact same. I thought of asking if they were twins but I remembered that Seth told me she was his little sister. She squeaked as she wrapped both arms around Seth’s neck.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked as he returned the hug.

“I’m getting the guest room ready for Alex.”

“Excuse me?”

“He can’t sleep at home. He’s not supposed to see me on our big day.” she explained to her brother. “Oh hi!”

She smiled when she finally noticed me. She presented me her hand and I took it to greet her.

“You must be Ali.”

“And you’re Sarah.” I said with a smile.

“When my brother told me he found a date, I didn’t believe him.”

“Congratulations for the wedding.”

She thanked me with a smile before we got interrupted by Seth.

“Can we get back to the fact that you want Alex to sleep here.” he said, clearly annoyed by this whole situation. “Can’t he just go to the parents’ house?”

“Seth come on, you know damn well that dad and Alex don’t get along very well.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to find another solution ‘cause he can’t stay here. I only have two bedrooms.”

“I don’t see what’s the issue here. Alex will be in the guest room while you and your girlfriend…”

“Woah!” I shouted, interrupting her. “Not his girlfriend.”

“But I thought you…” she started as she turned to her brother.

“I said she was my date.” he stated. “I never said anything about her being my girlfriend.”

I rolled my eyes so hard that it hurt my head. We talked about this. It was one of my conditions. I specifically asked him to warn his family that we were not together. I didn’t want to spend the whole week-end stating that I was just a friend and swearing that nothing was going on between us. I frowned my eyebrows as I looked at Seth.

“I forgot to tell her we weren’t together. It’s not a big deal.”

“For Christ’s sakes Seth, we talked…”

“Shh.” he said as he turned back to his sister. “I need the guest room for her. Alex can’t stay Sarah. I’m sorry.”

“Crap. He’ll be pissed if I tell him that he has to go to the parents’ house.” she said.

“Why don’t you go to your parents while he stays at your house?” I suggested.

Sarah looked at me for a second and smiled at me. She hugged me and told me that was the best idea ever and she couldn’t believe she didn’t think about it herself. She told us she’ll see us tomorrow at the party and kissed her brother’s cheeks.

“One more thing.” she said as she turned around. “I don’t want any drama with Catherine, OK?”

“There’s always drama with her, but I’ll behave if she does.” Seth said.

She smiled at him and closed the door behind her, leaving Seth and me all alone in the middle of the living room with our suitcase next to us.

“Hold on a second.” I said as I looked at him. “Catherine as in your ex Catherine?”

“Yeah… I forgot to tell you.” he said as he looked down. “Catherine is my sister’s best friend and she’s the maid of honor.”

“Oh now I get why I’m here.”

“What are you talking…”

“You’re totally using me to drive your ex jealous.” I said angrily. “I’m warning you Seth. I’m not playing that game.”

Seth sighed as he put his hand on his hips.

“OK first of all, I’m not using you! You’re here because I needed a date for the wedding. If I wanted to drive my ex jealous, you would not be the one with me here.”

“Wow, that’s very kind of you asshole.”

He was starting to piss me off. I was close to calling a cab and get my ass back to Orlando.

“It’s not what I meant!” he said. “It’s just that I know you would never agree to do it. And by the way, why the hell would I want to make her jealous, I’m the one who left her!”

I looked at his eyes for a moment and knew that he was telling the truth. I was not pleased that his ex was going to be here all week-end, but at least I knew I wasn’t there for some sick “let’s drive her jealous” plan. I just wished he would’ve told me before he dragged me all the way here.

“Fine. I believe you.” I said, making him smile. “But if she acts like a bitch, I will be one too.”

“I know that.” he said. “Come on, let me show you around.”

***

Seth’s house was small, but cozy. Everything was so clean and you could immediately tell that he wasn’t here very often. There wasn’t a lot of furniture but he had the essential. I unpacked a couple of my things and put them on the drawer. I was exhausted and I was tempted to go to bed immediately, but we hadn’t eaten anything yet and Seth was busy in the kitchen, preparing us something good. I joined him and he smiled as soon as I walked in.

“You’re hungry?” he asked.

“Yeah…”

I asked him if I could do anything to help but he declined my offer, saying he had everything under control. I was surprised by his culinary talent. I always thought he was the kind of guy to order his food instead of taking the time to cook it. Yes, that was judgmental as fuck, but that is what it is.

“So what’s this party Sarah was talking about?” I asked as I sat on a chair.

“Oh, tomorrow it’s my sister’s bachelorette party.”

I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. He never told me about that party. First Catherine, then a bachelorette? What else was he keeping from me?

“I’m not going to this party.” I shouted a little louder than expected. “This is not what I signed for!”

“Relax bitch.” Seth said as he put our steaks in our respective plates. “It’s not a traditional bachelorette party where all the girls get crazy about male cop stripers, although I’m surprised you would say no to this.”

“Shut up.”

“Seriously Ali, you could use…”

“Would you just shut up?”

Seth burst into laughter as he brought me my plate and sat on the chair next to mine.

“My sister is throwing a little party so that our parents and her future husband’s parents can meet.” Seth explained as he shoved a carrot in his mouth. “Nothing too fancy, we’re just going to hang out at my parents’ house.”

_Oh my God, I’m going to meet his parents,_ I thought.

Of course I was going to meet them, what was I thinking? That his mom and dad wouldn’t be at their daughter’s wedding. I had no idea why, but this whole meeting the parents was making me so nervous.

“What?” Seth asked me when he realized that I froze.

“Nothing.” I said as I tried to keep it together.

“You just realized that you are going to meet my mom?”

_How the hell does he know?_ I thought.

Seth was reading me too clearly now. I missed the times when I was a complete enigma to him. Now it was like he knew me better than I even knew myself. The only other person that knew me that well was Felix.

“Come on Ali, it’s not a big deal.” he said laughing as he softly punched my shoulder. “It’s not like I’d introduced you as my girlfriend.”

“You were supposed to tell your sister about me being a friend.” I reminded him. “Look where it got us.”

“I’m going to call my parents tonight to let them know we are not a couple, OK?”

“Yeah…”

“My mom is going to love you anyway so please don’t make it a big deal.”

“I’m just not good at meeting new people.”

“That I know.” Seth said as he burst into laughter. “First time we met you called me an asshole and told me to go fuck myself.”

“You deserved it.”

I shoved a piece of steak in my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

“I know I did.” he said. “But I came to apologize and you kicked me out of your room.”

“You were being a smart-ass.”

“You were stalking my Instagram.”

“I was NOT!”

Yeah, I totally was. He didn’t need to know about it. It was for research purposes only so I had every right to check his pics. I helped Seth clean the kitchen after we finished dinner. He teased me about the fact that I was nervous to meet his family. I argued with him for a while, but ended up letting him win. He wanted to be a baby, so he could be one.

“Do I really have to go to the party tomorrow?” I asked him.

“The choice is yours bitch.” he answered with a smile. “You either come with me tomorrow and meet them or you’ll meet them at the wedding and you’ll have to explain why you weren’t at the bachelorette. But you’ll have to meet them at some point.”

“Fine.” I groaned as I walked to the guest room. “Good night asshole.”

Spending the day with Seth’s family and his ex would certainly be exhausting and I needed to rest.

_It’s going to cost you big Rollins_ , I thought to myself as I jumped into the bed, ready to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning, after we ate breakfast at a restaurant near Seth’s house, we went shopping to find me a dress. It was awful. I hated dresses and I hated Rollins for dragging me into this. I was mad at me for saying yes. I never should’ve agreed to this. Yeah, I owed him for the time he brought Felix home, but that was way more than what I should’ve paid. After I had tried a million dresses, I finally found one that fitted me. At least my friend wasn’t picky on my choice. He didn’t really care about the dress, he was just there to pay for it. As long as I had one to wear for the big day, it was all that mattered to him. As Seth was paying the bill, the girl that had helped me with the dresses told me about how Seth and I were a cute couple. I tried my best not to yell at her that we were just friends, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Why were they all thinking that? I would get it if we were constantly wrapped in each other’s arms but that wasn’t the case. At ALL. Rollins thanked both girls that had helped us and we walked back to his car.

“Why do everybody keep thinking we’re together?” I asked Seth, as I opened the passenger’s door.

He laughed but didn’t say anything as he carefully laid my dress on the backseat. Then he jumped into the car, asking me if I was ready to meet his family. For a couple of seconds, I had almost forgotten about that, but now that he mentioned it again, my nerves were coming back at full speed.

***

Seth pulled over in his parent’s parking. There were cars everywhere and from where we were, we could easily see the backyard. There were a lot of people in there. A lot more than what he told me. Rollins opened the door for me and I hadn’t even realized that he got out of the car. I was so shocked by that crowd. I got out of the car and followed him closely.

“I thought you said a couple of persons.” I mumbled as we were getting closer to the backyard door.

“My sister told me it wasn’t a big reunion.” he answered me. “Looks like all of Alex’s family wanted to be here.”

I took a look around and sighed. Everybody was wearing beautiful classy clothes and I was in shorts and tank top. I immediately felt out of place. I just wanted to get out of there.

“I’m not dressed properly.” I said as I stopped walking. “I think I’ll let you have fun with your family today…”

I turned around and headed toward the parking. I couldn’t do this. The anxiety was killing me and I hated myself for it. It’s been awhile since I had a panic attack. When I was with my ex, I used to have them all the time. I hated myself for letting this whole thing affect me the way it did. I really thought I had changed, that I had made progress with this anxiety problem, but apparently not and at that moment, I was just back to being the “not-so-pretty” “not-good-enough” girl I was when I was with Patrick.

“Get back here Ali.” Seth said as he grabbed my hand. “You look just fine, I promise. My sister asked me to dress casually and that’s exactly the way you are. I told you yesterday, it’s not a big deal, OK? We’re just here to have fun. I don’t even know half of the people that are here.”

As I was about to say something, Seth’s sister appeared near us with a big smile on her face. She was wearing green pants and a white tank that looked a lot like mine.

“Finally, someone who listens to me!” she said as she hugged her brother. “I asked everybody to dress casually and nobody listened except for you two.”

Seth wrapped one of his arms around her so he wouldn’t have to let go of my hand. Maybe he was scared that I might take off running if he did. I might have done it if I wasn’t feeling a little bit better. Seth’s hand in mine was helping me a lot. The warmth of his fingers wrapped around mine was calming me.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to my mom.” he said with a big smile on his face.

Without letting go of my hand, he led me through the backyard all the way to this short classy lady. She was laughing out loud when we arrived near her and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. She had the same kind of laugh as Seth. That cocky but yet adorable sound was driving me crazy in a good kind way. She smiled when her eyes laid on me and I immediately felt comfortable around her. She looked like this caring mother that wanted to take care of everybody as if they were her own children. She stood up when she saw Seth and immediately hugged him, saying that she was so happy to see him. I was the one that let go of his hand so that he could return the hug properly. He looked at me with a worried look but I let him know that I was fine. It was like nothing ever happened. Who had a panic attack? Not me.

“Mom, this is Ali.” Seth said as he invited me closer with a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s nice to meet you Alison.” she said.

Apparently, Seth had already talked to her about me since she knew my full name. Hopefully she also knew I wasn’t his girlfriend. I was happy to see that she didn’t say anything about that. Instead, she turned and signaled a man to come closer. Seth’s dad was tall, just like his son. Although I already knew it wasn’t his real dad, I couldn’t help but to notice a resemblance between them. After all, he was the one who raised him. After he kissed my cheeks to greet me, he returned to his barbecue, telling us that he had to make sure everything was perfect.

“Come here.” Seth said as he grabbed my hand once again.

He led me to this old lady that was sitting on a chair and he introduced me to his grandmother. She tried to stand up but I told her to stay sit, as I approached to kiss her cheeks, saying I was honored to meet her.

“You look lovely my dear.” she whispered in my ear.

I thanked her with a smile.

“I’m so happy that my Sethie finally found a good girl.” she added. “I didn’t like that Catherine at all. You are way better than her.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as Seth brought his hand to his head in desperation. His grandma was the best ever. She was hilarious.

“Prettier, nicer…” she continued. “You’re a better girlfriend for Seth than her, that’s for sure.”

Seth told her that he had to introduce me to other people and that he’d catch up with her later. He led me a little bit further from everybody as I was still laughing my ass off.

“I’m sorry about that, I thought my mom warned her that we weren’t together but she tends to forget things and…”

“Don’t worry about that.” I said with a smile to let him know I wasn’t mad at him. “Your grandma is just so adorable and she has the right to say whatever she wants. She’s the only one on earth that gets to think we’re a couple.”

Seth laughed as he gently pushed me. He really thought I was going to freak out on him because someone pretended that we were together. Honestly, I couldn’t be mad at his grandma. She really was the cutest thing ever. She was just so proud that Seth had “found” someone good for him and she said Catherine was a bitch. Not in those terms, but I bet she might have said it at one point if I had let her talk more.

“Oh that’s where you’ve been hiding.” I heard behind us.

Sarah was there with a guy by her side. She wanted to introduce me to her future husband. I remembered that Seth had told me that the guy was a bit weird, but judging from what I was seeing, he looked perfectly normal. I understood at that moment that it wasn’t Alex the problem. It was the fact that he was dating and soon marrying his little sister.

“And this is my best friend Catherine.” Sarah said as she turned around to grab her friend’s arm.

The look on her face was priceless yet intimidating, but I wasn’t scared of her.

“What the fuck is she doing here.” she snapped as she pointed me.

“She’s my date.” Seth simply answered as he took my hand into his.

 _That’s not helping Seth_ , I thought

“You have a problem with that?” I added, raising my eyebrows.

I wasn’t helping either. Seth gently squeezed my hand as a warning. His sister did say she didn’t want any drama. I would certainly not be the one starting it, so I just shut up and squeezed back his hand to let him know everything was just fine.

“You two know each other?” Sarah asked, surprised.

“Yeah, we do.” Catherine spat. “She’s the slut I talked to you about. The one that was in my house the other day, wearing Seth’s clothes.”

“Bitch.” I mumbled as I took a step closer.

The fact that she had a problem with my face, I could live with that. The fact that she was calling me a slut, I couldn’t. I tried to let go of Seth’s hand but he grabbed my arm instead and forced me to back up.

“Catherine!” Sarah shouted in surprise.

Her best friend sighed and left, followed by Seth’s sister. Alex just stood there with a stupid smile on his face. Maybe he was weird like Rollins told me.

“Always drama with you two…” he simply told his future brother-in-law before he left to join his family.

“I’m going to kill her one day.” I let out.

“I’m sorry about her.”

As I was about to say something, Seth’s mother came to join us. She told her son that the guys were about to play soccer and that he should join them. He looked at me for a second and before he could say anything, she assured him that she would take good care of me. She then told me to join her and the other girls by the pool, where they would all drink champagne and chat.

“Go.” I said, once his mom left. “I think I can handle a few girls talk.”

“You sure?”

“She said champagne, Seth. Of course I’ll be alright!  I can’t promise Catherine will survive though.”

“I don’t care.” he said, laughing.

”Yeah right you don’t.” I let out as I started walking away from him.

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

He grabbed my arm and stopped me, forcing me to turn around to face him. I stared at his big brown chocolate eyes for a second as a bright smile lightened up his face.

“Oh my God.” he said. “You’re totally jealous of her!”

“Why the hell would I be?”

Seth shook his head and let out a laugh. Without saying anything else he ran away to join the other guys, leaving me all alone with my thoughts. Was I jealous? She was a complete bitch and she was mean to me. I couldn’t be jealous of a girl like that. But yeah, knowing that she had been his girlfriend was bothering me, but it was just because she was a bitch. It had nothing to do with the fact that she used to be in his bed, in his arms, against his chest.

“Asshole.” I mumbled before I turned around to join the girls.

I needed that glass of champagne.


	15. Chapter 15

I joined Seth’s mother that was sitting on a chair near the pool. She smiled at me when I arrived and immediately gave me a glass of champagne, like she had known how much I needed it. She told me to sit down near her. I briefly looked at Catherine’s disapproval face but I decided that I didn’t give a shit about her. Rollins thought I was jealous of her but he couldn’t have been more wrong. Sarah was there too and I could tell in her face that she wanted to apologize for her friend’s behavior. She tried to catch my gaze to tell me something and when she did, she whispered a brief sorry. I smiled back at her, letting her know that everything was fine. I could tell that Catherine didn’t like our little silent exchange, but she could go fuck herself as far as I was concerned.

After two glasses of champagne, the bubbles were starting to get to me a little bit. I was feeling better, relieved, like all the tension I had just vanished. We were talking about everything and nothing and we were actually enjoying ourselves pretty much. Sarah and Seth’s mom did most of the talking, telling us about all those little adventures they had during the wedding’s preparation. Catherine laughed at one point and I had to stop myself from saying something. It was nice to know that she was capable of something other than hatred and bitchiness toward me.

“How did you and Seth meet?” Seth’s mom asked as she turned to me with a bright smile.

“Yeah, we would love to know.” Catherine said with a voice full of fake joy.

Everybody was looking at me, impatiently waiting to know how Seth Freaking Rollins and I crossed paths. I swallowed hard before I quickly finished my glass of champagne. I needed a little bit of courage there.

_Your son was being a total jerk, I told him to go fuck himself, but he kept stalking me,_ I thought.

I didn’t say that, of course. Seth was that perfect little son for his mother, I couldn’t just crushed her like that. I told them that I was working for a magazine and that we met during an interview. I left every bit of frustration there was from my side and let them believe that we instantly got along. If only they knew.

“My best friend became closer to Seth so we saw each other a little more often.” I said, smiling at the thought of Felix.

What would I have given to be back home with him instead of here, in the middle of girls that wanted to know way too much about me. Catherine was mumbling comments now and then as I was telling our story. I wanted to shut her up with a punch, but I contained myself. The look on Seth’s mom was priceless. She was clearly annoyed by that blonde bitch. It was good to know that I wasn’t the only one.

“So you really are just friends?” Sarah asked surprised.

“Yes, we are.” I said, annoyed that people just wouldn’t get over it.

“Yeah right.” Catherine mumbled.

I turned to her and shot her with my eyes. She was reaching my limit and I really was about to lose it.

“Is there something you’d like to share with us Catherine?” Seth’s mom said, with a sharp voice.

She blushed instantly. I was about to burst in laughter but I stopped myself just in time. The bubbles were clearly getting to me now and I knew that if I started laughing, I wouldn’t be able to stop. Apparently, Seth’s mom didn’t like Catherine at all and I was proud to count her in my anti-bitch team. I stood up and put my glass on the table.

“You don’t have to leave…” Seth’s mom started.

“Oh it’s OK.” I said, reassuring her that I was not leaving because of Catherine. “I wanted to play soccer with the guys.”

She smiled at me and slowly nodded. She knew. She knew that I really needed to get out of there before something bad happened. I liked Seth’s mom a lot. She reminded me of mine a little bit.

***

I walked to my friend that was standing by himself, watching the other’s play soccer. There were too many boys and a few of them had to wait on the sideline before they could play. Seth was shirtless and his back was covered in sweat. My heart skipped a beat for a second as I was thinking about how sexy he looked. Those fucking bubbles really were getting to me.

“Hey asshole.” I said as I poked his ribs, making him jump.

He turned around and smiled at me, as if he was surprised that I was still alive.

“You survived the girl talk?”

“Yeah I did, but I couldn’t take any more of it.”

“Is Catherine still alive?”

“Unfortunately she is.” I said with a pout. “But someone else might kill her before the end of the day.”

“Let me guess… my mom.”

“Yep! She doesn’t seem to like her very much.”

Seth couldn’t hide his smile. He told me that his mother never liked Catherine. She didn’t like her even before they were together. She always thought she was a bad influence for Sarah.

“Imagine her face when I told her she was my girlfriend.”

I turned around and looked at the girls that I left behind. They were still talking but Seth’s mom had that anger painted all over her face as she was looking at Catherine.

“Yeah I could totally imagine it.” I said as I burst into laughter.

The guys stopped playing soccer and joined their respective girlfriends. Seth looked at me and pointed the soccer ball that was just besides him.

“You want to get your ass kicked?” he asked with a grin on his face.

He knew I played soccer when I was in high school. I spent a whole night talking about how I was the best in the team. I also reached the point in the conversation where I was forced to talk about why I stopped. My ex Patrick was the reason.

“You really think you can beat me?”

“You want to bet?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I loved challenges. I was that kind of girl. The one you could dare to do pretty much anything just because I wanted to have the honor of saying I was the best.

“If I win, you dance with me at the wedding.”

I looked at him with a little bit of doubt. I hated his confidence. Seth wasn’t a soccer player. I saw him earlier and I knew I could beat him, but that little spark in his eyes was scaring the shit out of me. That was how much I hated dancing.

“What if I win?”

“I’ll do anything you want.”

“Anything?” I asked, surprised.

“Anything.” he replied with a smirk.

“You do know that the list of things you owe me is getting bigger by the minute right?”

“I don’t care. Prepare yourself mentally sweetheart, ‘cause you’ll owe me a dance real soon.”

He was getting cocky and it was pissing me off.

***

After I humiliated Seth at his little soccer game, we ate dinner with everybody and I had to say it was amazing. Now I knew where Seth got his culinary skills. His dad made the greatest food ever. Way better than what my dad ever did. At one point during the night, I asked Seth if I could adopt his parents as mine. He laughed but then said that he already had an annoying little sister and that he didn’t need another one. Of course he got punched by Sarah for saying that and everybody laughed.

After dinner, most of the guest left, leaving only Seth’s parents, Sarah, Catherine, Alex, one of Alex’s friend that I didn’t know the name, Seth and I. I offered to help clean the tables but Seth’s dad refused and told me that everything was taken care of. Sarah then proposed that we could end up the night in the spa. I tried to refuse and said that I didn’t have any bathing suit but she insisted on giving me one. She had a ton of bikini that she never wore in the guest room. After I put it on, I looked at myself in the mirror and thought about taking it out and run away. It was way too sexy for me.

_Who cares?_ I thought.

That was exactly what Felix would say to me. I smiled thinking about my friend as I got out of the bathroom with a new confidence. He was giving me the strength that I needed even if he wasn’t there. I went back outside and put my clothes on one of the chairs.

“Here.” Seth’s mom said as she gave me a towel. “Take this.”

I thanked her, asking again if I could do anything to help but her smile shut me up. She told me to go have fun with the others, that they were just fine. Alex was already in the spa. He looked at me, frowning his eyebrows.

“You’re ready before Seth!” he said, surprised. “That’s impressive. Girls always take so much time get all prepped up.”

“Yeah, but Rollins is such a princess.” I answered as I got in the hot water.

Alex laughed at my joke so much and a part of me was glad to know that I could make him laugh. He was so serious all the time, I didn’t even know if he knew what a laugh was.

“I’ll be right back.” he said after someone called for him.

He left me all alone and I lied down, closing my eyes to relax. For the first time in the last couple of days, I just felt great. No pressure, no wedding, no meeting new people. Just me and that freaking awesome hot water and those bubbles. Talking about the ones in the spa not those from that champagne I drank earlier.

“You’re enjoying yourself?” I heard near me.

Seth was standing by the spa and he was smiling at me. His bathing suit was all black and it was hanging low on his hips and once again, I couldn’t stop myself from staring at his body. I already knew he was sexy, but when did he become THAT hot? Champagne during the afternoon and wine at dinner was not a good idea at all.

“After that big victory, I deserve a moment of rest.” I said as he was getting in the water.

“Ugh.” he groaned. “I can’t believe you beat me.”

“I told you I hated dancing.”

Seth laughed as he lowered himself into the water to get his hair wet. When he came back to the surface, he slicked it back and just like that, his hotness level raised another level.

“Did you have fun today?”

“I had a blast.” I said. “Honestly, I didn’t think I would have so much fun. Your family is amazing.”

“Yeah, there are.” he said with a bit of nostalgia in his voice. “I miss them a lot.”

Being on the road three hundred and more days a year’s must’ve been hard for family relationship. I couldn’t do it. I mean, I didn’t really care about not seeing my dad so much, but I couldn’t do it without Felix.

“I think they love you.”

I had so much fun with his dad. We kept teasing Rollins all dinner and that moment was just pure gold for me. I learned a lot about his childhood and all those dirty trick he played on his little sister. Seth looked at me with a smile on his face, but didn’t say anything. He just kept staring and the only thing disturbing the silence was the sound of the spa.

“Am I allowed to say that you look good today?” he let out as he slowly lowered himself in the water.

All I could see was his eyes. His big brown chocolate eyes took my breath away for a split second.

“I don’t know.” I said as I started blushing a little bit. “Depends…”

“On what?”

“Are you flirting with me?”

“I don’t know. Would you be pissed if I was?”

He hid his smirk by getting back in the water, leaving only his eyes for me to look at again. As I was about to say something, Sarah, Catherine, Alex and his friend joined us. Seth got out of the water and sat next to me to leave space for the others. His arm slowly brushed against mine, sending shivers down my spine.

“Here, I brought you this.” Sarah said as she passed me a glass of wine.

As if I needed to drink more. Maybe I did. There was something weird with Seth tonight and I needed to get it out of my head. He already flirted with me in the past. Multiple times. I never gave a shit about it, thought it was hilarious. Why the hell was I so affected by him tonight?

“I thought we could play a game.” Sarah said loudly.

Alcohol was doing her no good. She was already pretty wasted and judging by the wine left in her glass, she would be even more drunk in a couple of minutes.

“We should play Never have I ever.” she added.

“Come on sis’, we’re not in high school anymore.” Seth whined.

“You have something to hide Rollins?” Catherine said with her habitual bitchy tone.

Everybody wanted to play except for him. Even I didn’t care.

“You must’ve done a lot of bad things if you don’t want to play.” I told him with a smirk, as I took a sip of my wine.

“You have no idea.” he whispered to my ear, making my whole body tense up.

“Never have I ever… got so drunk that I couldn’t remember anything.” Sarah said as she looked at Catherine with a big smile on her face.

Catherine drank, whining that it wasn’t fair. Seth gave me a look when he saw me raise the glass to my lips.

“When?” he asked, curious.

“I’ve lost count.” I said laughing. “I was young and stupid.”

We played a couple of more round. Surprisingly, Seth wasn’t drinking much. I looked like an evil bitch next to him. Catherine and I were drinking pretty much at the same statements. That was a surprise too. Who knew we could have something in common.

“My turn now.” she said. “Never have I ever slept with someone and lied about it!”

That wasn’t her first statement that was intentionally directed to Seth and me. I had no idea what she was trying to prove here, but someone might end up getting hurt and it wouldn’t be me.

“Come on Seth. Drink.” she said.

“Nice try Cath. Ali and I never slept together.” he replied, with a bit of anger in his tone. “And you know your statement must be something you never actually did.”

“Fuck you.” Cath fired back at him.

Sarah told them both to shut up while Alex rolled his eyes. I could read his lip when he whispered that there was always drama with those two.

“My turn again.” said the bitch.

“I think it’s…” Alex’s friend started before he got interrupted by Catherine.

“Never have I ever wanted to fuck the slut that is sitting next to me.” she spit out as she looked at me.

“Catherine!” Sarah shouted.

“Call me a slut one more time.” I growled as I stood up.

I was about to punch the bitch when I felt an arm around my waist. Seth brought me closer to his chest as I was fighting to get out of his grip.

“Why are you always protecting her?” Catherine shouter.

Nobody else was talking. Nobody wanted to. The tension in the air was unbearable.

“Oh I’m not protecting her Cath.” Seth snapped at her. “I’m protecting you ‘cause I know Ali and believe me, you do not want to call her that again.”

She looked at me with fire in her eyes. Seth still had his arms wrapped around me but I had stopped fighting. He was too strong for me, there was no way I could get out of there.

“Unfortunately Cath, the only person I’ve fucked here is you.” he added. “

“I’m out of here.” she said.

“Yeah I think it’s best this way.”

Sarah looked at her brother angrily as the bitch was leaving the spa. Seriously, how could she be mad at him? Yeah, she clearly stated that she didn’t want any drama, but Catherine was the one that started all this.

“Don’t look at me like that she’s…” Seth started.

“I don’t want to hear it.” she snapped at him. “I’ll deal with you later.”

She got out of the water and ran after her friend. Alex’s friend hadn’t said a word in a while but looked at me with a little smirk. I think someone wanted to see a girl’s fight.

“Always drama with you two.” Alex said, shaking his head.

“Shut up Alex.” Seth shouted as he grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

I was more than happy to leave this place.


	16. Chapter 16

I was sitting in the front row at the wedding. Next to me was Seth’s mother and she was looking amazing in her beautiful long pink dress. I wasn’t comfortable in front like that. I tried to sit in the back but Seth’s mom wouldn’t let me. She insisted by saying that I was his son’s date so I deserved to be sitting with her. Seth was going to walk down the aisle with Catherine. I knew for a fact that he wasn’t happy with that at all. He tried to convince his sister that I could walk with him but either her or me wanted that. There was no way in hell that I was going to do that. I was at the wedding and that was more than enough.

Before we got here, Seth went to his parents’ house to talk with Sarah. He wanted to apologize for what had happened the night before even though it was clearly Catherine’s fault. He didn’t want his sister to be pissed at him on her big day. Fortunately for him, she wasn’t mad at all. She even told him to tell me that she really was sorry about her best friend’s behavior.

The wedding was taking place outside on this beautiful golf court. It was an amazing day but it was quite hot. I wouldn’t have liked to be a man and wear a suit today. I was dressed in a beautiful light dress and I was sweating hard. The music started to play and everybody immediately shut up. Alex’s sister and his friend walked down the aisle and joined him at the front. They were immediately followed by Catherine and Seth. She looked more than happy to have an arm around his, but if she could’ve seen his face, she would’ve been pissed. Not everybody could tell that Seth was mad but I knew him more than enough to know that he was. They walked down the aisle as if they were the number one cutest couple on earth and that thought stung a bit. Seth was looking incredible in that suit with his hair tied in a high bun. I saw him getting all prepared this morning but I didn’t notice how beautiful he looked. As he passed near us, he looked at me and smile. A real smile. Not a cocky one. I couldn’t help but to smile back at him. They went to the front of with Alex and the others. A little boy and a little girl made their way down the aisle. He wanted to take her hand but she was too busy spreading flowers everywhere so she kept avoiding him, making him cry in the process. Everybody laughed. They were really cute.

“You may not be his girlfriend, but my son only has eyes for you sweetie.” Seth’s mom said to me.

I turned around and looked at him. He was staring at me with his big brown chocolate eyes and he was still smiling.

“You look beautiful.” I read on his lips.

I blushed as I turned to his mother that was also looking at me with a smile.

“It’s just you right now…” she whispered as the music got louder for the bride’s entrance.

Everybody stood up as Seth’s sister made her way down the aisle, smiling.

***

After the beautiful ceremony, everybody made their way inside the reception room where we would have dinner while the bride, her husband and her family were going near the lake to take pictures. Seth wanted me to go with them but I refused. He insisted but in the end, I’m the one who won that fight. I knew he would have to take pictures with Catherine and he didn’t want to but I told him to grow a pair of balls and stop whining. Yeah, I really said that. He laughed and told me I was a bitch before he left with his family, leaving me all alone with a bunch of strangers.

I made my way inside and took a peek at the tables to find my name. I looked everywhere on the little plan they made of the room but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Then, I looked at the main table and sighed. My name was written on a piece of paper that had been glued to the map, like they made a last-minute change. Of course they did. Seth must’ve talked to his sister to make sure that I was sitting next to him, instead of his ex. Catherine was at the main table too, but they managed to keep her as far as possible from us, which was a very good thing. After what happened last night, Sarah clearly wanted to avoid drama at all costs.

As I was sitting down at my place, a cute little girl came to see me. Her mother was with her and she was encouraging her daughter to approach me and ask me her question.

“She wants to ask you something.” her mother told me with a smile.

I looked around me to make sure that I really was the one she wanted to talk to but there was no one else.

“What can I do for you?” I asked the little girl.

She approached me and murmured something, but her voice was so low that I couldn’t hear properly. I asked her to repeat a little louder.

“Are you Seth’s girlfriend?” she repeated as she shyly looked at the floor.

She must’ve been five or six years old and she was the cutest thing ever. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as I told her that I was not. The stars in her eyes made me understand that she was having a huge crush on my friend.

“She wants to marry Seth someday.” her mother told me.

I spotted Rollins when he made his way in the room and I told the little girl that I could make the presentation. She immediately blushed as I was waving to Seth.

“There’s someone I want you to meet.” I told my friend when he finally reached our table. “Seth, meet…”

“Tina.” the mother said, seeing that her daughter was too shy to answer.

“Seth, this is Tina.” I resumed. “Tina, this is Seth, a really good friend of mine.”

My friend laughed as he gently shook her little hand. When he finally let go of her, she hid behind her mother, making us burst into laughter. The lady told us that they’ll have to sit at their table but that they will catch up with us later.

“I was worried to leave you all alone in there.” Seth said with a smile. “I see that you already made a friend.”

“She wanted to know if I was your girlfriend.” I told him. “She was very relieved when I told her we were just friends. She wants to marry you.”

Seth burst into laughter and the sound of his laugh sent shivers down my spine.

“So how was it?” I asked.

“Depends.” he said. “Are you talking about the shoot or the fact that I had to wrap my arm around my ex’s shoulder and smile at the same time? The latter was painful.”

I laughed as I saw Catherine make her way into the room, with anger in her eyes. Apparently, Seth didn’t try to hide the fact that he didn’t want to be anywhere near her and she was pissed as hell. Good for her.

***

Dinner was great. I haven’t eaten that good in any of my dad’s wedding. Maybe this whole wedding thing wasn’t what was bothering me. Maybe it was simply the fact that it was my dad’s so I couldn’t appreciate anything that was going on at the time.

“So…” Seth started with a smooth voice. “Is there any guys that got your attention tonight?”

I looked at him and frowned my eyebrows. Why was he asking me that? I stared at him for a couple of seconds, trying to figure out what he was up to when it hit me.

“Felix texted you huh?” I asked.

A smile immediately lighted up his face and I knew I was right.

“Yeah.” he said as he showed me his cellphone

I couldn’t believe it. My best friend was miles away from me and he was texting Seth, which was my date for the night, to ask him if I’d seen any interesting dude. He was unbelievable.

“Nobody’s interesting here.”

“So you checked?” he asked with a wicked smile.

“Of course I did!” I shouted as I raised my hand in the air in desperation.

Seth burst into laughter and so did I. I told him he should text Felix that I found someone to get laid tonight, just to mess with him but Rollins pretended that my best friend would never believe that. He was right. I asked him to excuse me as I was heading to the bathroom. I was still laughing because of Felix as I entered one of the cabins. I did whatever I had to do and as I was about to get out of there, I heard Catherine’s bitchy tone. She had just entered the bathroom with Sarah.

“I can’t believe he brought that bitch with him.” she spat.

“Come on Cath.” Sarah said. “Alison is a good girl.”

“I’m sure she’s the girl Seth cheated on me with.”

I stood in my cabin, confused. I thought she was the one that had cheated on Seth. One night, when Seth was in town, we went out and he told Felix and me all about his relationship with Catherine. I remembered thinking that she was a bitch for cheating on him so I was surprised to hear that he was the cheater.

“They said they weren’t together.” Sarah said.

“And you believe that?”

“Yeah, I think I do.”

I was glad to know that I could count Seth’s sister as an ally. At least someone in this wedding was believing me.

“Fine.” Catherine said. “Then he wouldn’t have any problem to dance with me.”

“I don’t think he wants to…”

“Force him.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Catherine asked. “Please Sarah, I need to speak with him. He’s avoiding me and I really need to clear some things with him. I need closure. Just tell him that he has no other choice than to dance during your first dance. Since that bitch doesn’t want to dance with him, tell him that he has to dance with your maid of honor.”

I wanted to barge out of the cabin and punched her ugly face but I didn’t do it. So apparently, Seth had already warned her sister that I wasn’t going to dance with him. I was happy to see that he took the time to tell her. He might have forgotten to tell her we weren’t together when we first got here but at least he warned her about this.

“Let me talk to him.” Sarah said as they got out of the bathroom.

I got out of the cabin and shook my head. I couldn’t believe it. She really was a bitch. Although I was concerned about the fact that Seth lied to me about cheating on her, I was more concerned about him having to dance with her. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and sighed as I made my way back to the reception.

Sarah was near Seth and she was talking to him. I knew she had already asked about the dance because I could see the anger in Seth’s eyes. He didn’t want to do it. I slowly walked to join them.

“Seth, I need you to dance, please.” she said as she clasped her hands together in a desperate pleading sign.

“I’m not going to d-“

“If I dance with him, is it ok with you?” I asked, interrupting Seth. “Or does it absolutely has to be Catherine?”

I could feel Seth’s stare burning on my back but I decided to ignore him. I didn’t want to dance. I absolutely hated that. But I couldn’t let Seth dance with her. I knew too well how much he would hate it. I couldn’t let it happen. I had to do something. Sarah looked at Catherine briefly before she turned back to me and heavily sighed.

“I don’t care!” she let out, a little bit frustrated. “As long as he’s there during the dance.”

The first note of a beautiful song resonated in the reception room and Sarah immediately calmed down as her father was reaching for her hand. A smile lighten up her face as she wrapped her arms around him. He was making her twirl and everybody laughed. Seth’s dad was a really funny guy that loved to steal smiles from his family. Although Sarah was smiling, I could still see tears running down her cheek. A few seconds later, her husband stood up and steal her away from her father. We were all captivated by the dance. After a while, Seth’s parents joined the newlywed on the dance floor. Sarah looked at her brother, frowning her eyebrows. I turned and looked at Seth.

“What are you waiting for asshole?” I asked with a smile. “Invite me.”

He took my hand and led me to the dance floor. Everybody was looking at us, but I didn’t care. I was too busy being petrified by the fact that I had to dance. Seth told me to trust him as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Why?” he simply asked after a few seconds.

“Because I knew you didn’t want to dance with Catherine.”

“But you hate dancing.”

“Yeah.” I let out in a sigh. “But I hate knowing that you’re mad.”

Seth let out a laugh and made me turn. He was quite good at this whole dancing thing. He brought me closer to his chest and we continued to dance in silence. Everybody else came to join us and the dance floor was now full of people all cuddled up with their loved ones. I spotted the little girl from earlier and smiled at her. I could tell that she wanted to be me right now, but the little boy that was making her twirl seemed good enough for her. Maybe she’d marry _him_ one day.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Seth whispered in my ears.

He grabbed my hand, stole a bottle of champagne and led me outside.


	17. Chapter 17

Rollins took me outside, near the beautiful fountain. The moon had taken over the sun’s job and was now illuminating the dark sky. We sat on a bench as Seth opened the bottle of champagne, laughing when the cork flew to the other end of the garden, making some people jump.

“Sorry!” Seth yelled to them.

He drank straight from the bottle before he passed it on to me. We stayed there for over an hour, talking about everything and nothing. We talked about his sister getting married, the wedding in general, if he ever thought of having a wife and kids. He told me that his career was way too important and he didn’t want kids because of that. He was barely home and he didn’t want his child to grow up without a father. It wasn’t a complete no, though. I could tell only by looking at him that it was still something that he wanted.

“Just need to find the right girl.” he let out with a smile as he took another big sip of the champagne.

“Speaking of girls…” I started. “You never told me that you were the one that cheated on Catherine.”

It didn’t change the fact that she was still a bitch but a part of me felt bad for her. I could see where all the hate was coming from. I could totally understand the hate she had toward me since the first time she saw me at Rollins’ house, in his clothes.

“Is that what she told you?” Seth asked me with a smirk.

“I overheard a conversation between your sister and her in the bathroom. She thinks I’m the one you cheated on with.”

He just stood there and shook his head. He mumbled something but he said it so low that I couldn’t catch it. I didn’t mind the fact that Seth lied to me about it. I just wanted to know what really happened. The girl hated me the minute she laid her eyes on me and I was in the right to know why.

“I didn’t cheat on her.”

“Then why would she say…”

“Cause I let her.” Seth said, interrupting me.

“What do you mean you let her?” I asked confused.

Seth sighed and told me that he didn’t want to fuck the relationship between Catherine and his sister since they were best friends. He caught her with this other guy one night that he got home early. She didn’t know what to say so she accused him of cheating too, which wasn’t true. She couldn’t believe that he was on the road all the time and that nothing ever happened. As soon as Seth left, she called Sarah to tell her that he left her and that he was cheating on her. She never told her best friend about the other guy.

“Cath never understood why I never said anything. She expected me to tell the whole world about what happened but at that point, I just didn’t care. My sister wasn’t mad at me so I never needed to defend myself. She knew things were already kind of bad between Catherine and me so I guess she couldn’t blame me for “cheating”. So now my ex is chasing me so that I could give her an explanation as to why I didn’t say anything. I bet she still believes I cheated too and that I’m hiding behind my lies, but seriously I just don’t care.”

“What a fucking bitch.” I murmured, loud enough for Seth to hear it.

I stole the bottle from him and drank more champagne. I couldn’t believe it. Either Catherine was the worst person ever for telling his ex’s sister that he cheated when it wasn’t true or Seth was the dumbest for letting her spread lies like that.

“Yeah…and the bitch is staring at us right now.” he said as he looked behind me. “And she does not look happy right now.”

I wanted to turn around, but I didn’t want her to know that we were talking about her. I had a better plan in mind.

“Then let’s piss her off even more…” I whispered as I put the bottle of champagne on the ground.

I cupped Seth’s face and closed the distance between us. Our lips touched softly at first and then I felt Seth smirked as he deepened the kiss.

“I thought you didn’t want play that game.” he said as he slowly moved away from me.

“I said I would be a bitch if she was being one.” I whispered in his mouth. “That’s me being a bitch.”

Seth brushed his thumb on my jaw as he approached to kiss me again. This time, it was different. Seth was the one leading the kiss as he slowly licked and bit my lower lip, sending shivers down my spine.

“Is she still there?” I asked between two kisses.

“I don’t know.”

He put his hand on the back of my head and pressed me closer to him. I did the best I could to stop a moan from coming out as he slowly rubbed his tongue against mine. As I was about to wrap my arms around his neck, he moved away from me, leaving me panting for more.

“Now she’s gone.” he said with a smile.

Someone came out of the reception room and called everyone in. They were about to cut the wedding cake. I didn’t care about it at all. I bit my own lip as Seth took my hand and led me back inside.

***

After the wedding, we got back to Seth’s place. The party was still on when we left, but we were exhausted and I was more than happy when he told me that we were leaving. As we entered his house, I let him know that I was going to bed. I couldn’t take it anymore. He thanked me for the dance. I wanted to thank him for the kiss but I didn’t. I couldn’t say it but I was definitely thinking about it.

“Good night.” he said as he was lying on the couch in the living room.

I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face. I couldn’t stop thinking about that damn kiss. I sighed as I look at my reflection in the mirror. I was blushing just thinking about his lips on mine. After I was done with my routine, I went to the guest room. I stripped off my dress and replace it with a pair a white short and a pink tank top. It was good to finally be in my own clothes.

An hour later, I still couldn’t find sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Seth’s mouth, inches away from mine, smirking. I sighed heavily multiple times as I turned around in the bed. I kissed him to piss off Catherine and I got caught up in my own game. He wasn’t supposed to kiss back. Why the hell did he do that? What was supposed to be an innocent kiss turned out to be a hot mess. I could still hear the TV and I was pretty sure that Seth wasn’t sleeping either. Was he thinking about the kiss too? Without thinking, I got out of the bed and made my way to the living room. Seth was sitting on the couch, shirtless, wearing only his black skinny jeans. I shivered when our gazes crossed paths. He was sexy as hell and I wanted him. Badly. I wanted to feel his hand on me. My heart was pounding in my chest as I sat next to him.

“You’re not sleeping?” he asked, surprised to see that I was still awake. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…” I said. “I just can’t sleep.”

“Anything bothering you?”

_You fucking kissed me back,_ I thought.

Seth could read me easily and he knew there was something wrong with me. I couldn’t hide the fact that he was making me nervous at that very moment.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked as he gently put his hand on my thigh.

It wasn’t the first time he was doing that, but for some reason, tonight it was different. The warmth of his hand felt so damn good.

_Kiss me again,_ I thought.

“Kiss me again.” I let out in a sigh.

Seth leaned toward me and rested his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, as I thought that I was stupid for saying it out loud.

“I thought you’d never ask.” he murmured.

Our lips touched, sending shivers down my spine again. The kiss was soft, just like it was when we were at the wedding. I gently bit his lips and allowed myself to moan in his mouth. I wanted more. I needed more. Our tongue met halfway and battled each other until I let him explore every part of me with it. Without breaking the kiss, I made my way to his lap as he wrapped his arms around my waist. We were both gasping for air but none of us wanted to be the one to break that kiss.

“Are you ok?” Seth asked as he heard me groan.

“Yeah.” I whispered.

I just needed him so bad right now. I had not been intimate with another man for a year now and I was craving for him.

“Are you sure?”

“Shut up.” I let out in a sigh. “Don’t ruin this please.”

I yelped as Seth picked me up in his arms and he stood up. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me in his bedroom. He let me down on my feet as he passed the door and I immediately pushed him against the wall, pressing my body against his. I was aggressive, I was craving, I needed more, but Seth was just so soft and gentle with me. The way he was touching me, slowly rubbing his thumb against my skin, like I was the most delicate thing between his hands.

“Damn it Seth, I’m not going to break.” I groaned. “Stop being so careful with me.”

He didn’t need me to say it twice. He immediately put his hand on my butt cheeks, lifted me back up in his arm and shoved me into the wall, making me lose my breath for a second.

“Fuck…” I let out.

“Are you ok?”

He knew he might have been too rough there but I was more than just fine.

“Fuck yes…” I said with a smirk, as I ran my hand into his hair, untying his bun at the same time.

His lips were all over me, licking and biting, making me moan loudly in his ear. I could feel the hardness through his pants and it turned me on even more. Seth carried me to his bed as I was taking my shirt off, earning a smirk from him when his eyes laid on my naked breast. He lied me down on my back and stared at me for a couple of seconds. I could see him blush a bit even if the room was dark and I felt a knot in my core when I saw the lust in his eyes. I got to my knees and approach him slowly. I wrapped my arms around him as I started kissing his chest, his abs, slowly leaving a trail of kisses all the way down. I tried to unbuckle his belt but he grabbed my hands before I had the chance to do anything. He gently pushed me on my back and smiled at me.

“I want to be the one taking care of you.”

He kissed my hips, then my stomach, slowly making his way up to my breast. I moaned his name as he took one of my nipples in his mouth and playfully brushed the other one. He made his way back down, leaving kisses everywhere and licking my naked skin, making me squirm under his touch. He took my shorts and panties off, leaving me naked for him to admire.

“You’re fucking beautiful.” he let out in a sigh.

I could feel the heat on my cheeks and I didn’t know if it was because he said I was beautiful or because he just stayed there, on his knees, his gaze detailing every aspect of my naked body.

“It’s not fair.” I said as I pointed his pants.

Why was I the only one naked? I wanted to rip his jeans off but he wouldn’t let me.

“Stop whining.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he was lying down on top of me, crashing his lips onto mine. He traced his finger on my stomach and I moaned my appreciation in his mouth when he finally reached my thigh.  

“Seth…” I whispered as his finger was slowly brushed my inner thigh.

“Hmm?”

He had his cocky grin on and it told me that he was enjoying teasing me like this. I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed him to touch me, I needed him to finally take care of me like he said. I sighed and moved my hips so that his hand could finally reach my breaking point.

“Stop that.” he firmly said. “I said I was taking care of you.”

My heart skipped a beat when he finally rubbed his thumb over my entrance. I heard a moan coming from him and I knew that he was loving how wet I was for him. My breath hitched as he slipped one finger inside, slowly thrusting it and driving me crazy at the same time. I needed him to go faster.

“Seth… please.” I begged.

“Shhh…” he answered as he introduced another finger inside.

It was pure torture but I was enjoying every second of it. He was so careful but yet so mean at the same time. He kissed and licked every part of my naked skin, without stopping the thrusting of his fingers. I ran my hand in his hair when he reached my lips, kissing me hungrily.

“Seth?”

“What?”

I stared at his amazing eyes, my mouth slightly opened, unable to stop the moans from coming out. I wanted more.

“I need you to fuck me.” I let out without realizing that I had said that out loud.

His breath hitched in his throat and I could feel his hardness on my thigh. He slowly took his fingers out and stood up, leaving me panting in anticipation, his stare on me the whole time. I licked my lips as I watched him unbuckled his belt. I couldn’t wait anymore. I got onto my knees and helped him free the aching in his pants. Seth groaned as I wrapped my hand around it and licked him. He ran his hands in my hair as I took him into my mouth, slowly going up and down his length.

“Fuck Ali…” he let out in a sigh.

“Hmm?” I said as I stopped what I was doing to look at him.

“Don’t stop…“

“Payback’s a bitch huh?” I said with a smirk.

I yelped when he pushed me back on the bed and covered me with his body to kiss me. Our tongues fought for a moment but before either of them could win, Seth moved away from me. He turned around and opened the drawer of his night table. I made my way behind him as he was reaching for a condom, slowly kissing and licking the pattern of his tattoo. Once he had put it on, he cupped my face, quickly pecked my lips and pushed me again on the bed. He started rubbing the tip of his length near my entrance, making me moan in anticipation.

“Just fuck me already!” I let out in frustration.

I couldn’t take any more of his teasing. I was sick of it. I was craving for him, I wanted to feel him inside of me and I didn’t want to wait anymore.

“The more you whine, the longer it’ll take.” Seth simply said with a wicked smile.

I wanted to say something but with the look on his face, I knew he was serious. He was just evil. He resumed his teasing mission by pinching one of my nipples, making me squirm.

“Seth…” I unintentionally squeaked.

“I said no whin-“

“I’m not whining… Oh fuck yes.” I let out when he finally pushed his hardness inside of me.

He slowly filled me, inch by inch, giving me time to adjust to his length. I couldn’t breathe. My heart was pounding hard in my chest as I was getting use to the painful but delightful sensation. Seth didn’t move, waiting for me to be ready to take his thrusts. He sensually kissed my neck as I started moving under him. He put his hand on my hips, asking me to stop.

“Let me take care of you Alison…” he whispered in my ears.

He slowly started thrusting into me. Our moans were the only thing breaking the silence in the bedroom. It’s been so long since I had been intimate with a man and it felt amazing. I wanted him to go harder. I needed him to. I tried to follow his pace with my hips but he wouldn’t let me.

“I can’t…” I suddenly said as I pushed him away from me.

The confused look on his face made me laugh as I pushed him on his back and made my way on top of him. I wrapped my hand around his hot length, watching Seth shiver underneath me.

“Fuck…” he cursed as he watched his hardness disappear inside of me.

“I couldn’t take any more of your fucking teasing.” I whispered in his ear.

Seth let me ride him without saying a word, moaning his pleasure as I dug my nails into his chest. I felt that once so familiar knot in my stomach and I knew I was close. He must’ve noticed it because he blocked my movement by putting his hand on my hips and started thrusting harder into me, making me scream his name. A single touch of his thumb on my clit was enough for me to explode. I cursed under my breath as I collapse onto his chest. A couple of harder thrusts from Seth and I heard him groan his orgasm in my ear. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed my shoulder as he slowed his pace and eventually just stopped moving. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes before I finally rolled to my side, eyes closed, overwhelmed. I felt Seth moved to my side to get rid of the condom and quickly clean himself. We stared at each other for a second, without saying anything. He covered my naked body with the blanket before getting in the bed too. He brought me closer to his chest and kissed me softly. No words needed to be spoken and I immediately fell asleep in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... you guys just read my first ever smut scene !! Hope you liked it ;)


	18. Chapter 18

I was sitting on the side of the bed with my face in my hands, my naked body wrapped in the blanket. It was 7:00 a.m. and I just had the most incredible night ever, but yet I was feeling sick. It shouldn’t have happened. Why the hell did I do that? I was the one that had initiated the whole thing and that was making it worse. What the hell was I thinking? It was the best night I had in a very long time, but a part of me regretted every second of it. During the nine years I’ve been with Patrick, he never took care of me like Seth did. It always had been about his own pleasure first and he never cared about mine. A one-night stand shouldn’t be like that. That’s what it was right? A one-time thing and nothing else, so Seth never should’ve cared like that about me. I heavily sighed and tried to catch my breath. I was overwhelmed by all of this and I knew that a panic attack was coming up at full speed.

“Hey…” I heard behind me.

I turned and my gaze immediately caught some beautiful brown eyes that were hazily looking at me.

“Come here.”

He opened his arms and I immediately buried my face in his neck even though a part of me wanted to run away as far as possible. I hated myself for what happened but yet I knew his warmth was the cure to my anxiety. I melted into his embrace and it felt so damn good.

“Are you OK?” he asked with a sleepy voice.

“Yeah…” I lied.

I was definitely not OK but I didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to forget that night ever happened and be back to being just friends with him. What did that meant for the future?

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing…”

“Listen… About last night…”

“Can we not…”

“I just want you to know that last night was pretty amazing.” he said, interrupting me. “And that I’d like to do that again and again if I didn’t know how much it would mess with your head.”

I hated how he could see right through me. I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless. Yes last night was incredible but it was too much to handle. It would never happen again. It couldn’t happen again as much as I wanted it to. I wasn’t ready for that. The thought of being in a relationship was scaring the crap out of me but the thought of being with him scared me even more.

“I’d never get tired of you moaning my name.” Seth whispered in my ear.

“Stop…”

I shivered in his arms and tried to move away. It was too much. He was too much. I had to get out of there but Seth didn’t want to let me go. He tightened his grip on me and gently stroke my hair to calm me down.

“Talk to me.” he simply said. “Tell me what’s wrong, ‘cause I have no fucking clue what’s going on in your head right now.”

In his, everything was clear. He enjoyed last night and he wanted to do it again. In mine, it was pure chaos. He lifted my chin and forced me to look in his eyes.

“I’m not ready for this…”

A silence came between us. For a moment, we just stayed there, in each other arms, looking into the other’s eyes. I tried to avoid his stare but for some reason, those brown orbs were magnetic and I found myself looking at them.

“You seemed more than ready last night.” Seth finally let out with a broken voice. “You were the one asking for it, remember? You wanted this Alison.”

“I know…”

“I would never have done anything that you didn’t want me to.”

There was this sadness in his eyes that I’d never seen before. I knew I was the cause of it and it left me even more confused. I wanted to ask him what last night meant for him but I was too afraid by his answer.

“I’m not ready Seth…”

“Not ready for what exactly?!”

“I can’t be in a relationship right now!” I let out a little louder than expect.

Seth let out a snort of amusement and lifted my chin up once again. He had that cocky grin on his face and it pissed me off instantly.

“Who said anything about a relationship?” he said as he looked straight in my eyes. “I said last night was great and that I wanted to do it again. I didn’t ask you to marry me Ali.”

“So what then?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “You’re saying you want to be my fuck buddy?”

I moved away from him and sat on the bed, making sure the blanket was covering my naked body.

“Ugh…” Seth groaned. “You make it sound so awful. I hate that word.”

“Then what is it that you want from me?”

He took a couple of seconds to think about the right way to expose his thoughts and then he took my hand into his.

“I don’t know… since we already spend time together… I just thought that we could… spend nights together too… and cuddle… like last night… without commitment. Just two friends having fun…”

“Seth, that’s exactly the definition of a fuck buddy.”

“Call it whatever you want!” he shouted as he raised his hand in desperation. “All that I know is that I get hard just thinking about what happened last night and I would love for it to happen again.”

I couldn’t stop myself from taking a peek, curious to know if he really was hard right now and I also couldn’t stop smiling. I looked at the blanket to see if there was any kind of bump in there.

“Want to verify by yourself?” Seth said, bringing back my attention to his face. “I’m all yours sweetheart.”

Why the fuck was he so sexy? I might not have been ready for relationship but I was tempted by his offer. I sighed and hide my face in my hands, trying to cover my reddening cheeks. I didn’t need to check if he was telling the truth about that hardness of his ‘cause I knew he was. I could feel a warmth in my own core just by thinking of him moaning his pleasure in my ears. I had to stop myself from jumping on him and start a round two even though I knew he would love it. I wanted him again and I knew that meant we could never go back to where we were before. I would never be able to stop myself from wanting to kiss his chest, his abs and every other part of him. I was under his spell but there was nothing romantic about it. It was pure sexual instinct.

“We need rules.” I let out, earning a smile from him.

“You can come up with any rules you want, as long as I get to make you scream my name like last night, I don’t care.” he said, making me blush instantly.

The blanket fell when he sat on the bed, showing me his amazing chiseled chest, covered in tiny little red marks. I didn’t remember how much I dug my nails into him when I hit my breaking point last night. I was tempted to ask if I’d hurt him, but I didn’t. We had more important things to discuss first.

“First of all…” I started as I forced myself to look at his eyes. “What happens if we meet someone?”

“Since we wouldn’t be a couple, I guess it would be OK to still go on dates with other people. If you’re OK with it…”

“So rule number one, we are not exclusive and we can date other people.”

“Agreed.” Seth said as he slowly brushed his finger on my hand.

“Rule number 2.” I continued. “If we date another person, no sleeping on the first night. We must warn the other if we intend on sleeping with someone else. Otherwise it’s just…”

“Gross…”

“Exactly.”

“Totally agreed.” he said with a smile.

He was slowly getting closer to me and my heart skipped a beat when his hand found its way to my thigh. It gave me chills even though it was very warm. He had his cocky grin on and it made me smile. He was driving me crazy.

“Don’t even think about it…” I groaned.

“What?”

“I know what you’re trying to do.”

He raised his hand up in defense which made me burst into laughter. He was trying to distract me but I needed to tell him my rules. There was no way I was going with this plan if he didn’t agree to everything I wanted. I couldn’t believe that I was discussing a fuck buddy situation with Seth Freaking Rollins.

“Rule number 3…” I said as I put my serious face back on. “Don’t ever tease me like that again!”

“No no no no no!” he shouted like a kid. “I can’t agree to that!”

“You said you would agree to everything as long as you could fuck me…”

“OK, first of all, I did NOT say it like that. Secondly, you can’t do that to me. It was too fucking hot seeing you beg for more you can’t…”

“No more teasing.” I stated.

He looked at me and shook his head.

“Fine!” he finally let out as he rolled his eyes. “You got any more of those stupid rules?”

“Last rules… we don’t tell anyone.”

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh you want me to be your dirty little secret?”

As he was saying those words, he approached me and rubbed my hip with his finger. His face was so close to mine and I was tempted to kiss him but I promised myself that I would wait until he would have agreed to everything. Seeing that I wouldn’t budge, he slowly kissed and lick my jaw, trying to get any sort of reaction out of me but I didn’t do anything.

“I’m serious Seth.” I let out in a sigh.

“Fine. I agree.” he said as he put his hand on the back of my head. “Fuck, this whole fuck buddy thing is just turning me on…”

He got on his knees and started kissing my neck. He was craving for me and I could tell how bad he wanted me. The blanket wasn’t covering him anymore and I had a very good view of what was going on down there. My breath hitched when he licked that sweet spot in my neck.

“Not even Felix.”

Seth stopped what he was doing and looked at me with a surprised look.

“Why?” he asked. “If he knew, he’d finally stop pushing you into every man’s arms. I thought that’s what you wanted.”

Yes, it was what I wanted. I was tired of Felix telling me every day that I should find someone. My best friend would be ecstatic to know about me and Rollins, but he would be pissed as hell if he knew the nature of our relationship. Felix had always been against fuck buddies.

“Fine, we won’t tell him.” Seth agreed. “I like the idea of being the only one to know what I’m doing to this hot body of yours.”

He sensually kissed my lips as I passed my arm around his neck, melting into his arm. That weight that had been on my shoulder for over a year had just been lifted. No commitment and pure awesome sex was exactly what I needed. If only I’d known that before, maybe I would’ve found a fuck buddy a lot sooner, but nobody would’ve been as perfect as Seth was for me. We had been friends for a while now and that guy knew me better each and every day and he was hotter than hell. What else could I ask for?

“Anything you want to clarify before we officially shake hands on our terms?” I said with a playful voice.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on him. His hands were everywhere on me and it was making it difficult to focus on the conversation.

“Do I still get to call you a bitch?”

“Only if I can still call you an asshole.”

“Humm.” he hummed as he kissed my jaw. “Do I get to steal kisses?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, a bit confused.

“Am I only allowed to kiss you when I fuck you or can I have a taste of your lips anytime I want?”

“As long as nobody sees you, I don’t mind.”

He smiled and immediately kissed me. His tongue made its way in my mouth like it’d known the place forever. His moans made me shiver as I wrapped my arms around him once again. I didn’t care about that conversation anymore. I wanted him and I wanted him now.

“Still want to know how hard I am?” he asked with a smirk.

The thought of wrapping my hand around his hardness and taking him into my mouth made me moan and I hate myself for that. I didn’t want to show any weakness in front of him, but that asshole knew exactly what to say and when to say it.

“Depends…” I said with a smile of my own. “Do you want to know how wet I am for you right now?”

I couldn’t believe I had said that out loud but there was something in all this dirty talk that was making me so alive and so hot.

“Are you always so needy?”

“Try not having sex for a year… let’s see how needy you’d be after that.”  I said with a smirk.

Seth lied down on his back and brought me with him. I leaned against his chest as I slowly kissed his thick neck.

“So…” he started. “Do we shake hands on that agreement?”

“I have a better idea to settle our little deal.” I said as I finally wrap my hand around his hot length.

His eyes fluttered and he let out a moan that sent chills down my spine. We were finally good for a round two and I knew it was going to be as good if not better than last night.


	19. Chapter 19

I was sitting at my desk but I was not focused at all on work. Cellphone in hand, I was more busy texting Seth than taking a look at all the files that were submerging me. Every time I told myself that I should get back to work, he would send me another message. We’ve been official fuck buddies for a little less than two months now and we managed to keep it a secret from everyone, even Felix. Although sometimes my best friend seemed to think we were acting weird but if he really suspected something, he would ask me for sure. Seth just loved playing with fire. Every time our friend was leaving the room, he would jump on me to hungrily kiss me, leaving me panting. I hated when he was doing that because I was so scared we would get caught but at the same time, it made me feel so alive. As for the actual fucking part, it was more than complicated. Obviously, we couldn’t do that at my house since Felix was always there so all we had left was Seth’s house. The thing is, every time Rollins was in town, my best friend wanted to hang out with him so we were never alone. I literally had to sneak out of the house and pretend I was going to visit my dad.

“Alison, we need you downstairs.” I heard on my interphone.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” I said, releasing the button after I was done talking.

I stood up and grabbed my phone. As I was heading to the stairs, I received another text from Seth.

_The view from the hotel room is amazing. I’m sure you would love looking at it while I’m taking care of you,_ he wrote.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling and I blushed instantly. He obviously enjoyed sending me those little dirty text a little too much. Seth was on the road and I couldn’t wait to see him again. Even though we’ve been together a couple of days before, I already missed him. I missed lying down naked next to him or in his arm.

_I know you would love screaming my name while looking at the beach,_ he wrote again.

_I have to work now, stop texting me, I can’t focus._

We’ve spent all morning texting each other. I should say sexting, because that was definitely what we were doing. I wrote one last little dirty text while walking but as I was about to send it, I bumped into someone, dropping my phone on the floor in the process.

“Hey, look where you’re going bitch.” Felix said with a smirk as he bent over to pick up my phone. “Who were you texting like that?”

My heart skipped a beat when his eyes laid on the screen. Seth and I were about to get caught by my best friend. When I saw that he tried to unlock the phone without any success, I finally let myself breathe. I’d put a password when Seth and I started seeing each other on a regular basis.

“Seriously Ali?” Felix asked, frowning his eyebrows. “Since when do you put a pass code on your phone? What the hell are you hiding from me?”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Don’t lie to me bitch.” he said with a smirk. “The texting, the sneaking out of the house and the blushing on your cheeks right now are telling me you’re keeping something from me. Spit it out.”

I had my mouth open in shock, trying to find out something to say. How the hell was I going to get out of this situation? It would’ve been easier with Seth by my side. He always knew what to say to change the subject every time Felix was asking weird questions.

“You’ve been on that stupid phone for weeks now, smiling like an idiot. Now tell me who the lucky guy is.”

“Just a random dude I met in a bar the other day.” I said.

It wasn’t a complete lie. He shouldn’t be able to detect it, right?

“You went on a date without me as your back up?” he said with suspicion in his voice.

“No no… I met him there.” I said. “Remember the night you were working late? Well, I went into this bar and started talking with that guy.”

Felix looked at me and I couldn’t tell if he was believing me. He gave me my phone back and I prayed to God that he wasn’t going to ask other questions about that random dude that did not exist at all.

“What are you still doing here anyway?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Miami for the Pay-per-View?”

Bert had asked my best friend to cover this WWE event this week-end and Felix was more than happy to do it. When I left the house this morning, he was getting ready to go and was packing his suitcase. He wasn’t supposed to stop by the office, but maybe he’d forgotten something, although the way he was dressed told me something was wrong.

“Bert didn’t say anything to you?” Felix asked. “He canceled me this morning. I was about to get in my car when he called to tell me he didn’t need me to go anymore.”

That was typical of my dad so I was not surprised. Pissed as hell, but not surprised at all. He just loved last-minute changes, but it wasn’t like him to cancel though. Especially not when we were talking about an interview with Seth Freaking Rollins.

“Then who’s covering the event?” I asked as I suddenly felt a knot in my stomach.

“Miss I’m-the-best-employee.” Felix let out with anger in his voice. “Mandy asked Bert if she could go and he just said yes.”

Why the hell was my dad always giving her everything she wanted? The knot in my stomach tighten as I thought about Mandy being around Seth all week-end. Less than two months ago, she was asking me to hook her up with him and now she was going to spend a lot of time with him. Alone. That thought was pissing me off and making me nervous as hell.

“Ali?” Felix asked. “Are you OK?”

I didn’t know how long I have been lost into my own mind but the look on my best friend’s face let me know that the silence between us might have been longer than it was supposed to.

“I don’t know, I’m not feeling so good…” I said. “I think I’m going to go home. Can you let Bert know that I left?”

“Yes, of course. Go get some rest, I got it covered.”

I thanked him with a small smile before I got back to my office to grab my bag.

***

I pulled the car over in the parking and stopped the engine. The music that was playing very loudly a second ago just stopped when I took the keys out of the contact. I stayed there for a couple of minutes, in silence, trying to slow down my heartbeats that were way too fast. I sighed heavily as I opened the door and got out of the car. I slowly made my way to the front door as I thought about how exhausted I was. The thought of a comfortable bed underneath me made me smile a bit as I pushed the big glass door.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

A beautiful blonde girl at the reception desk looked at me with a big smile as I was heading toward her.

“Hi.” I answered, forcing me to smile back at her. “Hum, I’m looking for my friend. He asked me to meet him at his room but he totally forgot to tell me which one it is. His name is Seth Rollins.”

The girl frowned her eyebrows and gave a weird look to the security guard that was standing next to her.

“I’m sorry, I really can’t do that.” she finally said, after the guard shook his head.

“I’m not asking you to give me a key to his room.” I said, a bit annoyed by her. “I just need to know his room number. What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll knock and he’ll look by the freaking little hole in the door and when he sees it’s me, he’ll just open his goddamn door.”

The security guard gave me an angry look and I understood that I needed to take it down a notch. I’ve been driving for the past 4 hours and I was not in the mood. I was exhausted and I just wanted to make it to Seth’s bed. For sleep purposes, of course.

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled to the girl. “It’s been a long morning.”

“If he’s your friend, why wouldn’t you just give him a call…” she said.

“I wanted to surprise him.”

“I thought you said he asked you to meet him?”

I was really bad at lying. I decided to just shut up and thank her with my most beautiful fake smile as I made my way to the elevator. I looked through my phone for his number when I suddenly remembered what he said about the view. I knew he must’ve been on the last floor. He was always booking rooms on the last floor, saying it was more calm. I got in the elevator when the doors finally opened and pushed the right button. Further away, I saw Dolph Ziggler that was walking toward me. I panicked a little bit but thankfully the doors closed before he could see me. I search for Seth’s phone number and dialed it when I finally reach my destination. After a couple of ringtones, he picked up.

“Missing me already, bitch?” he said.

I knew from that tone that he had his little cocky grin on. I couldn’t help but smile when I heard his voice.

“Open your door.”

“What?”

“Just fucking do what I say and open your hotel room door right now.”

Not long after, I heard a noise behind me. I turned and my gaze immediately caught a very sexy and confused Seth Rollins. I quickly headed toward him when I heard the elevator’s door opened, scared that Ziggler would be the one coming out. I didn’t want to be seen. I pushed Seth into his room and closed the door behind me with a kick. Before Seth had the time to say anything, I jumped into his arm and wrapped my arms around him, crashing my lips onto his.

“What… The… Hell…” Seth tried to say between kisses.

I missed his lips, his hands on me, his chiseled chest and his beautiful soft hair. As much as I hated to admit it, I was addicted to him. Seth dropped me to my feet but I continued to kiss his luscious lips, giving him a lustful look. His breath hitched in his throat when his gaze caught mine. He knew what I wanted and he knew that I wanted it now.

“What are you doing here?” he asked when I finally let him break the kiss.

“Happy to see me, asshole?” I asked as I playfully poked his abs.

“Of course I am.” Seth said as he wrapped his arms around me, allowing me to bury my face in his chest. “Surprised, but very happy.”

His warmth made me forget that had just been driving for nearly four hours and that I lied to my best friend.


	20. Chapter 20

I slowly made my way to the window. I had to see the view he talked to me about. I wanted to see what I’d be looking at when I’d be screaming his name just like he said in his text. It was amazing. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, giving us a good look on the beach that was nearby his hotel. The sand was almost white and I was dying to go.

“Woah, you didn’t lie about the view.” I said as I felt him behind me.

He pulled me onto his chest and buried his face in my neck, delivering a trail of kisses up to my shoulder.

“I’ve been told you were in Vancouver for the week-end…” he let out.

“Who told you that?”

I knew exactly who did. I just wanted to know if he’d seen Mandy yet. I knew she wasn’t going to waste any time and she would want to see him as soon as she arrived in Miami.

“I bumped into Mandy this morning. She told me she was replacing Felix and when I asked if you were going to be here, she said you had a hockey event to cover.”

“And you believed her?” I asked, with a bit of anger in my voice. “Dude, I would’ve told you if I was going to Vancouver. We text every fucking day.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?” he asked with a smirk.

Because I wasn’t planning on coming here at all. Knowing that Mandy was going to try and put her claws into his flesh drove me crazy and I decided to drive for four freaking hours to make sure she couldn’t. I just didn’t want him to know that. We were not together and he could date anyone he wanted. Since I was the one that came up with the rule, I couldn’t let him know that it was bothering me. I knew he was seeing other girls. I just didn’t want him to date Mandy.

“Oh my God!” Seth shouted after an awkward silence. “You’re jealous of her!”

“What?” I snapped, louder than I should have.

I moved away and turned around to face him.

“Don’t play dumb with me sweetheart. You’re totally here because you’re jealous of Mandy.”

He let out his stupid amazing cocky arrogant laugh and it pissed me off even more. What was I supposed to say? Seth grabbed my hips and brought me close to him. I could feel that he was already half-hard, probably due to that hot make out session we had when I jumped on him and it made it so much more difficult to stay focus on that stupid discussion we were having.

“And I thought you were here because you missed me.”

“I did miss you.” I said with a pout.

“I know.” he said as he slowly kissed my lips. “And I kind of like that jealous side of you…”

“I’m not jealous! I just know her and she’s not a good girl for you.”

“So what, you just jumped into your car and drove to my rescue?”

Why the hell did it sound so bad coming out of his mouth. I was pathetic. What was I doing here anyway? I had absolutely no plan. I guess I just relied on the fact that if Seth had fucked me before his interview with Mandy, he wouldn’t want anything to do with her.

“I thought we weren’t a thing…” he said when he realized I was not going to answer his question. “You said I could date other people…”

“You can.” I let out in a sigh.

“But…”

“But not her.”

“Why not?”

“Seth please…” I said as I looked into his eyes. “Anyone but her.”

I could tell that he wanted to ask why again but I didn’t want to explain to him. There was no explanation. I just hated her. She was a bitch and I didn’t want her near Seth. That was it.

“I mean, if you do want to go on a date with her, suit your-”

Seth grabbed my face and crashed his lips on mine to shut me up. He hungrily kissed me, biting and licking my lips, brushing his tongue over mine, making me gasp for air. I wrapped my arms around his neck and moaned in his mouth when he grabbed my ass. The room was filled with only our moans and heavy breathing until knocks were heard on the door, making us stop and stare at each other, both confused.

“Were you waiting for someone?” I asked.

“No.”

Seth kissed my forehead quickly before he made his way to the door. After he looked to see who it was, he turned to me, frowning his eyebrows.

“It’s Mandy.” he whispered as he walked back to me.

“You gave her your room number?!” I shouted a little bit louder than expected.

“I did NOT!”

“Then what the fuck is she doing here?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?!”

“Seth?” we heard Mandy say from the other side of the door, shutting us both.

Seth took my hand and led me to the bathroom to hide me.

“You’re going to let het in?” I asked, angrily.

“She knows I’m here, what am I supposed to do.” he answered as he gently pushed me inside. “Get in there and shut up.”

“I hate you!” I spat as he was closing the door.

He stopped his movement and turned to me. Once again, he grabbed my cheeks with his hand and crashed his lips onto mine.

“No, you don’t.” he said with a smirk as he closed the door.

I was pissed as hell and I growled as I lean on the door trying to hear what they were saying. I heard him open the front door and sighed when Mandy greeted him. She had her seduction voice on and it was driving me crazy. I hated her and I hated Seth for opening that freaking door.

“Hey, how did you find me?” Seth said.

“I bumped into Ziggler and he gave me your room number. I wanted to talk to you about something. Regarding the interview I mean…”

_Fucking Dolph Ziggler,_ I thought as I rolled my eyes.

“Do you think I can come in?” she asked.

I cursed under my breath when I heard Seth say she could. I couldn’t believe it. Either he was trying to piss me off on purpose or he was just the biggest asshole on earth. They went further into the room and I couldn’t hear them anymore. I slightly opened the door, trying my best not to make any sound, but I still couldn’t get a word of their conversation. After a few minutes, I caught one word: bathroom. My heart jumped in my chest when I saw Mandy coming my way. I turned around and jumped in the bath, hiding behind the curtain. Thank God it wasn’t a glass shower. Mandy did what she had to do and then started washing her hands. Her phone rang as she was wiping her hand on the towel near the sink.

“Hey.” she said when she answered.

I couldn’t hear a word of what the person on the line was saying to her. The only thing breaking the silence was Mandy’s breathing.

“Yeah, I’m in his room right now.” she said with a happy voice. “He agreed to meet me at the bar later. I can’t believe I have a date with Seth Freaking Rollins.”

I nearly tripped and fell in the bath when I heard those words coming out of her mouth. I wanted to get out of there, grab her arm and throw her outside of Seth’s room. After ending the call, she got out of the bathroom, leaving the door open on her way out. When I heard Seth say goodbye to her, I stepped out of my hiding spot and faced Seth.

“Ugh, I can’t believe you’re going on a date with her.” I said, making my way into the room.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Aren’t you supposed to meet her at a bar tonight?”

“Yeah, for an interview.” Seth said. “She said she couldn’t make it tomorrow so she asked if we could do the interview tonight instead.”

“Well, she thinks it’s a date.” I said, angrily.

I let myself fall on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Seth sat next to me and put his hand on my thigh. I moved away from him. I didn’t want him to touch me. Not right now. I was way too pissed.

“Ali…” he said with sadness in his voice.

What the hell was wrong with me? Since when was I so jealous? He went on multiple dates and I never reacted this way. Mandy was the problem here. I couldn’t stand the fact that she was going to try to seduce him. I knew she might even succeed and that’s what was pissing me off.

“Sorry, it’s been a long day.” I said as I closed my eyes.

Seth wrapped his arms around me and brought me closer to him. We stayed like that for a moment, before sleep got the best of me.

***

When I woke up, Seth wasn’t in the bed anymore. I heard the water in the bathroom and understood that he was in the shower. I thought for a second that he was already gone to see her and I was glad to know he wasn’t. Seth made his way out a few minutes later, a towel wrapped around his waist, water falling down his back.

“Why are you so sexy?” I asked, making him jump.

He turned to me and smiled. He must’ve thought I was still asleep because he was being as quiet as possible.

“Feeling better?”

I suddenly remembered how much of a bitch I was earlier today. I sat on the bed and he joined me.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Are you going to tell me what that was about?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“I’m talking about you playing the jealous girlfriend.” he said as he playfully poked my ribs. “What’s your deal with Mandy?”

I didn’t want to talk about it, but he deserved to know why I was suddenly acting so weird. The thing was that Mandy had always stole everyone from me. I told Seth about how, when we were younger, she used to be the girl that guys wanted to have when I was just the good friend. She was even stealing my dad away from me now.

“So you’re scared I’m going to ditch you for her?”

I was not going to admit that out loud. I told him about how she also was the reason why my ex was always bringing me down. Patrick was always comparing me to her. Mandy was always so much prettier, so much smarter and so much everything. According to him, I should’ve been more like her and less like me. At the mention of my ex’s name, Seth clenched his fists. He’s never seen him but I could tell how much he hated the guy.

“Don’t worry about her.” he finally let out as he kissed my forehead. “She not even pretty.”

“Liar.” I said with a smile.

As much as I hate her, I had to admit that she was hot. There was a reason why guys were all over her.

“Are you going to be here when I come back?” Seth asked me as he ran his hand in his hair.

“I can’t. I have to get back or Felix will either freak out or suspect something.”

“Please stay.” he said with a pout.

“Sorry… I really can’t.” I let out as I kissed his lips.

The kiss was desperate but amazing. I didn’t want to go. I wrapped my arms around his chest as I gently bit his lip. Maybe I could tell Felix that I was spending the night with that non-existing other dude I supposedly met in a bar. Seth broke the kiss, saying that he had to get ready. When he stood up in front of me, I could see that he was hard from that heated make-out session. I stopped him when he tried to turn around. I ripped his towel off, freeing his hardness, hungrily licking my lips in anticipation.

“What are y-… oh fuck.” he moaned when his length suddenly disappeared in my mouth. “Ali, I need to meet her downstairs in fifteen minutes…”

He pretended he didn’t have time for this but his body language was telling me otherwise. He was slowly thrusting his hips, his hand buried in my hair.

“Sorry asshole.” I said as I forced him to sit on the bed. “I can’t let you leave with a boner.”

I kissed his lips, his cheek, licked his neck, his chest, bit his abs and his hips, earning moans and groans from him.

“And I need to make sure you’ll remember what’s waiting for you after that stupid interview.”

“That means you’re staying?” he asked, full of hopes.

I didn’t answer. I smirked and licked the tip of his length. No words needed to be spoken, he knew I was going to stay the night.


	21. Chapter 21

Two weeks later, Mandy was still bragging about her date with Seth Freaking Rollins. She kept telling everyone about their amazing evening in that bar and she even said that she ended up spending the night in his room, which was a complete lie. Bitch, I was in his bed and I never saw you there. Sadly I couldn’t say anything without revealing that I was Seth’s dirty little secret. Yesterday, when we were both at work, she even asked me if Rollins had said anything about her. She knew that we were close friends so she thought maybe he would’ve talked about her. The fact that she asked me that pissed me off so badly because yeah, he did say something about her after he came back from their “date”. That night, he kept asking me why I hated her so much since she had been very nice and classy with him. I couldn’t say if he was serious about her being a good girl or if he just wanted to piss me off. The latter worked out well though and made me regret staying. We actually got into a fight. Well, I must admit that it was basically me yelling at Seth to stop mentioning her and him making fun of me, saying I was so cute when I was mad. The sex we had that night was intense and pretty amazing. I wish I could rub in Mandy’s face that she may have spent the evening with him, but at the end of the day, I was the one that woke up next to him, naked and I was the one who received a good morning kiss.

Sadly I couldn’t rub that in her face like she was rubbing her shit into mine. The only thing I could do was to blow off my steam on my punching bag. When I moved in with Felix, my friend was nice enough to change his office into a training room. He brought his desk and computer back in the living room so that I could bring my treadmill and my punching bag. He knew fitness was an important part of my life and he wanted me to feel like home. The music was playing so hard in my earphones that I couldn’t even hear the sound that my fists were making every time they hit the bag. I was so focused on following the beat of the song that was playing that I didn’t see nor hear Felix enter the room. His hand on my shoulder made me jump and I nearly punched him when I turned around.

“What the fuck Fe’!” I shouted as I took my earphones off.

He knew how much I hated to be interrupted during my training. Especially when I was throwing punches. It was something that required all my focus and I hated to lose it because someone wanted to talk to me. I didn’t even know he was home. I had the day off today and Felix went to work so I thought I was alone in the house. Seeing him there scared the shit out of me ‘cause I did not expect him to sneak in on me like that. I totally forgot that he was finishing early on Fridays.

“Hey…” Felix said as if I did not just yell at him. “Have you talked to Seth lately?”

_Define lately_ , I thought.

Seth and I were texting each other almost every day, but my friend didn’t know that. I couldn’t tell him that or he would have suspected that something was going on between us.

“It’s been a while.” I simply said, hoping that I could fool his lie detector. “Why?”

“What’s the deal between him and Mandy?” Felix asked. “Did Rollins said anything to you?”

I tried to remain calm because I didn’t want him to know how much it was bothering me but I wanted to roll my eyes so badly. My best friend knew that Seth and I were close enough to talk about our different dates. He knew how much Rollins just loved to tell me every little detail about his personal life so he just assume that he might have told me about Mandy.

“No, he didn’t.” I let out in a sigh. “Did you really interrupted my training for this? You know how she is Felix. She just loves making up stories so that people thinks she’s interesting.”

“She posted a selfie of Seth and her on her Instagram.” Felix told me. “Seth even retweeted it.”

“She did an interview with him, she must’ve acted like a total fangirl and ask for a picture.” I said as I resumed my training, throwing slow punches on the bag.

“They were in a bar, Ali. I doubt she interviewed him in a bar.”

Mandy was a manipulative bitch and Seth fell in her trap. No big deal about this.

“I’m surprised that he didn’t say anything to you.” Felix added. “Maybe he knew it would piss you off.”

“Why would it piss me off?”

“Because you hate her.”

“So what?”

“It wouldn’t make you mad to know that he’s going out with that bitch?”

“Why would I care?” I asked, trying to look as detached as possible, although the punches I was now giving were a lot stronger.

Felix stayed silent for a minute and I could feel his stare burn the back of my head.

“Ugh… never mind.” he finally let out as he left the room.

I put my earphones back in my ears, happy that I could now resume my training. As if I wasn’t already pissed, now that I knew she had posted a selfie on her Instagram, I was furious. I was mad at her for asking for a picture but I was even more mad at him for saying yes. I could hear her high pitch annoying voice, begging for one and him, with his famous grin, agreeing to this shit.

_Relax, you’re the one he fucked that night,_ I thought.

I smiled as images of my night with Seth came back to my mind. There was nothing better than remembering a good fuck to put a smile back on my face. Oh yeah, probably the fuck itself. I’d been training for the past forty minutes or so and I was exhausted. It was now time for me to push it to the limit and give everything I had left in me. I punched and I kicked as hard as I could, imagining that the bag was Mandy’s ugly face. When I had nothing left, I collapse on the floor and closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath. That was probably the best part of the workout. It was the only time my mind would go completely shut.

The music was still loud in my ears as I was focusing on slowing down my breathing. My heart jumped in my chest when I felt someone grab my wrist. I let out a scream and immediately opened my eyes. Seth was straddling my hips, pinning my hands above my head. I tried to escape his grasp but he was too strong and I didn’t have anything left in me to fight back. He had this grin on his face and he was looking at me with lust in his eyes. All of a sudden, his lips were on mine, his tongue violently massaging mine. I stopped fighting, closed my eyes and melted into his touch, music still raging in my ears.

“Oh my God, Felix!” I let out when I remembered that we might get caught by my best friend.

Seth had released the tension on my wrist and I was able to escape his grasp. I took the earphones out as I pushed him away from me.

“Relax, he’s not here.” Seth said with a smile, as he lied down next to me. “I waited until he was gone before I got in. He left a note on the table saying he was going to spend the day at his parent’s house.”

“How did y-.”

“I used the spare key you have under that potted plant. I overheard Felix the other day when he told you where he’d put it.”

_Overhead my ass_ , I thought.

“You scared the shit out of me, asshole.” I shouted as I punched his chest as hard as I could, making him laugh.

I was still lying down on the floor and my heart was pounding a million miles an hour because of his assault. I really thought I was going to die. People breaking into houses was a very common thing in our town and it was scaring me so much.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“Come on, I’m sure you loved it.” he whispered as he hungrily kissed me again. “I bet it turned you on and that you’re all ready for me.”

As he said those words, his hand slowly trailed down my stomach, stopping between my legs to rub my sweet spot. It did more than turned me on. My body was literally on fire and I was now craving for him.

“Let me shower first…” I let out in a sigh.

I was still all sweaty from that intense workout and I felt disgusting. That was the worst part of the training. I couldn’t focus on anything else as long as I was wearing those dirty clothes.

“Don’t bother.” Seth murmured. “You’re so fucking hot right now. The moment I saw you lying down here and breathing hard like that, I had an instant boner.”

He moved away from me and gave me his hand to help me get up. My legs were like jelly and I had to lean on the wall behind me. Seth pressed his body against mine, making it a lot easier to stay up.

“I want you now, Ali…” he whispered in my ear, making me squirm.

“Seth… I’m covered in sweat…”

“I make a living out of fighting sweaty dudes.” he said with a smirk. “Believe me when I say that I really don’t mind fucking you right now.”

My heart skipped a beat when I felt the bulge in his pants pressed against my thigh. He sure wasn’t lying about that boner of his.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” I said as I pushed him away from me so that I could look at him in the eyes. “You’re going to wait for me in my room while I take a quick shower. After that, I’ll be all yours.”

I pecked his lips and walked away from him before I remembered that there was something else I needed to say to him.

“Oh and after _that_ , you’re going to tell me why the hell you retweeted Mandy’s pic.”

“Or…” Seth let out as he reached for my hand and brought me closer to him. “We could talk about Mandy now so that you get all mad at me like last time. Then, I’d rip those sexy training short in half to fuck you right there on the floor. After _that_ , I’d carry one you to the bathroom ‘cause you wouldn’t be able to walk by yourself and I’d run a hot bath for the both of us.”

My breath hitched when I heard those filthy words coming out of his mouth and I could feel my arousal between my legs.

“Who knows, I might even fuck you again in that bath.”

I moved away from him, breathing hard. My heart was pounding a million miles an hour in my chest and I couldn’t think straight.

“My house, my rules.” I managed to say without stuttering. “Now go wait for me in my room. I promise it’ll be a quick shower.”

I left the room, so turned on, thinking that this was going to be the quickest shower I’ve ever taken.


	22. Chapter 22

I said it was going to be very quick, but then I found myself sitting in the shower, eyes closed, trying to slow my heart that was pounding in my chest. It was a common feeling when I thought about Seth. Knowing that he was waiting for me in my room gave me butterflies and for some reason, it was scaring the shit out of me. The last time I felt those freaking things in my stomach was when Patrick and I started dating. I knew what they meant but I didn’t want to admit it. I was never going to admit it. What Rollins and I were right now was more than enough for me. I put my hands on the wall to help me get back up. My legs were still like jelly and I didn’t know if it was because I gave it my all and kicked the shit out of that punching bag or because Seth was here, in my house. The water was hot and comforting. I tried to stop my mind from going crazy on me but it was harder than expected. With my eyes closed, I leaned on the wall and imagine what Rollins was about to do to me.

“What’s that smirk for?” I heard.

I jumped and nearly tripped on my feet. Seth was standing in front of me, naked. He entered the shower and closed the glass door behind him. The water fell on him and wetted his long dark hair that he slicked back. Within seconds, his lips were on mine and his hands found their way on my waist.

“Never been a patient person.” he said as he delivered a trail of kisses on my jaw.

“I should’ve seen that one coming and lock the door.” I told him as I ran my hand in his wet hair.

“You’re evil.”

“That how you like me.”

“Hmm, fuck yes.” he moaned as he kissed the sweet spot in my neck.

I shivered under his touch as I let my hand fall onto his ass, bringing him closer to me. I breathe heavily when I felt his hardness pressed against my stomach. All I wanted was to wrap my hand around it but our bodies were so close that I couldn’t reach for it. I whined, trying to put some distance between us but Seth wouldn’t let me and pressed his body even more. My back was hurting on the wall behind me but I couldn’t care less. When Seth cupped my breast with both his hand, I forgot all about the pain and melted into his touch. He moved away a little bit and I moaned when one of my nipples disappeared into his mouth. As he was licking, sucking and gently biting the right one, he was rubbing his thumb over the other one.

“Seth…” I let out in a sigh.

All of a sudden, he turned me around and pressed me against the wall. He sensually kissed my shoulder and my upper back while his hands were brushing my stomach, slowly moving down to my thigh. All I wanted was for him to finally reach the wetness between my legs. Seth was running his hand all over me, but he was never going where I wanted him to go and I was getting frustrated.

“What did I say about teasing?”

“That’s not teasing.”

I couldn’t see him but I knew he had his cocky grin on. I could hear it in his voice.

“That’s just me showing you how much I missed that hot body of yours.” he whispered in my ears.

I wanted to tell him that it was definitely teasing but the words got stuck in my throat when his hand finally found its way to where I wanted it to be. I spread my legs a bit to give him full access, earning a groan from him.

“Fuck…” I moaned when he fastened the pace of his finger on my clit. “I missed this.”

“I missed you.” he simply said as he rested his lips on my shoulder for a long kiss.

Seth continued to rub my sweet spot and my entrance, making me gasp for air every time his finger was getting in and out of me. I could feel that warmth in my stomach and I knew exactly what it meant.

“I want you inside.”

I whispered that so low that he didn’t seem to hear it. I repeated it, louder, but Seth continued to slide his finger inside me as if I didn’t say anything.

“Seth… I’m gonna c-“

“Then come.”

I moaned loudly as my orgasm took control of my body. I couldn’t control anything and I nearly collapse but Seth wrapped one arm around me. I was shaking against his body as he slowed the pace of his finger. He turned me around and brought me closer to him. I breathe heavily against his chest, water dripping down in my eyes. I barely could feel my legs but I knew Seth was supporting me.

“I’m going to wait in your room now…” he murmured to my ear.

Before I had the chance to say anything, he got out of the shower. I leaned on the wall and looked at him while he was drying his body with my towel. Without another word, he left the bathroom.

***

After I lazily washed myself, I got out of the shower, still breathless from what Seth had done to me. I quickly rubbed the towel on my long hair to dry them and wrapped it around my naked body. I was so impatient to find him in my bed that I didn’t mind the water that was still dripping down my legs. I caught my reflection in the mirror and laughed. I looked like a complete mess. My hair was all over the place, full of knots. I decided to give them a quick brush before joining the handsome man that was waiting for me. I left a trail of water on my way to the bedroom but I didn’t care.

Seth was lying on the bed with his eyes closed. He had put his clothes back on and judging by the way he was breathing, I thought he might have fallen asleep. How long was I in the bathroom after he left? I smiled when I noticed that he closed the curtain. I let my towel fall on the floor and quietly crawled on him, pressing my naked body on his. Seth immediately wrapped his arm around me and smiled when he noticed that I wasn’t wearing any clothes.

“Took you long enough.” he mumbled, keeping his eyes shut.

“Sorry… I needed a minute to recover.”

Seth let out a laugh and I told him that he should’ve stayed to carry me back to my bed. He did say that I wouldn’t be able to walk after he’d be done with me and he was totally right. He cupped my face and looked at me intensely.

“What?”

“Nothing…” he let out in a sigh. “I was just thinking that you’re beautiful.”

“I look like shit but thanks.”

“You do not…”

I thanked him with a kiss. A sweet long soft and almost romantic kiss. My hand found its way to his cheek and I gently brushed my thumb in his perfectly trimmed beard as my tongue was making its way into his mouth.

“Can I be the one taking care of you now?” I cooed in his ear.

Seth didn’t answer but the groan in his throat told me that I could. He was always the one taking care of me and I was more than happy to return the favor. I lifted his shirt up but didn’t take it off as I started kissing and biting his chiseled chest. He heavily sighed when I flickered my tongue on his stomach, slowly making my way down. I knew where he wanted me to be and that’s exactly where I was going. I could feel his length slowly getting hard in his pants and I loved feeling it under me. I loved having that much power over him. I wrapped my hand around it, slowly stroking up and down to harden it more and Seth moaned in impatience. Time for him to get a taste of his own medicine. I was about to make him beg for more, just like he was always doing with me. He knew that I was about to play that game and I could tell he was trying his best not to fall into my trap. He knew the minute he was going to complain, I was going to tell him that it would be even longer. I ran a finger on his length that was now very hard and looked at him. His eyes were closed and he was licking his lips in anticipation. I wanted to push him to the limit, see how much more of my teasing he could take, but I was eager for him. I gently stripped him off of his pants with a little help from him. His hardness sprung free in front of me and I was now the one liking my lips. I wrapped my hand around him and felt him thrust into it.

“Don’t you dare move a muscle.” I groaned.

“You’re fucking evil, you know that?”

I sensually kissed his lips as my hand was going up and down on him. I sucked on his tongue before I made my way back to where I wanted to be. Seth breathed heavily as my mouth was getting closer to his length. I decided to make him wait a little longer as I kissed his inner thigh.

“Ali…” he said with a voice full of impatience.

I grinned as I slowly licked my way up to the top of his hardness, making him shiver under my touch. He moaned when I finally took it all in my mouth and twirled my tongue around him. Seth ran a hand into my hair as I was moving up and down his length. I couldn’t stop myself from moaning too, I was probably enjoying this as much as he did and I was aroused as fuck. When Seth heard the pleasure coming out of my mouth, he tried to reach between my legs but I moved so that he couldn’t touch me. I was the one taking care of him and I wouldn’t let him touch me. Our eyes connected as I was licking him and it sent chills in my body. What I was seeing in his face was more than enjoyable. It was perfect. He was breathing heavily and sent his head back on the pillow, closing his eyes in pleasure. I had him exactly where I wanted to be. I moved away from him and wrapped my hand around him, stroking him hard and fast. I knew he was so close, I didn’t need him to say anything. Without stopping the thrusting of my wrist on his length, I crashed my lips onto his and licked his tongue. Seth cursed and moaned in my mouth as I felt some of his release on my hand. He lazily smiled and asked me for another kiss. I pecked his lips, then his nose and lean my forehead against his.

“That was…” Seth started, out of breath.

“Amazing right?”

I had a cocky grin on my face. The same one that he always had. Maybe we were spending way too much time together.


	23. Chapter 23

I brought the blanket closer to my face as I tightened my grip on Seth’s chest, eyes still closed. My head was resting on his shoulder and I couldn’t be any more comfortable. I smirked, when I felt his finger brushing my arm. After Seth cleaned the mess he had on him earlier, we just got under the sheet and we both fell asleep from the exhaustion. It was the first time we both had orgasms without actually fucking. When we were together, it would always end up that way. I was glad that for once, Seth let me take care of him fully. For some weird reason, I felt a whole lot closer to him and surprisingly, it just felt good. I turned on my other side and pressed my back against him as he passed his arm around my waist. I felt him bury his face in my neck as I took his hand and tangled my fingers with his. We rested like that for a while, both close to falling sleep once again. I jumped when I heard a sound and immediately opened my eyes, blinded by the sun that was now shining in the bedroom.

“Wake up sleepyheads.” I heard.

Felix was opening the curtain and my heart stopped when I caught his gaze.

“I have people coming over to visit the apartment. I need you to clean your room.” he explained when he saw the confusion in my eyes. “Oh hi Seth!”

“Hey Fe’…” Seth said with a voice full of hesitation.

I totally forgot about the visit. Felix was looking to buy a new place and he started having people over to visit the apartment. He told me that he had a visit scheduled for 3 o’clock, but for some reason, I didn’t remember. My best friend was looking at me with a big smile on his face.

“Fe’… I can ex-“ I started

“Later.” he stated as he put a hand in front of him. “Seth, I need you out of here now, visitors arrive in fifteen minutes and Ali has to clean up the mess you guys did in the bathroom. There’s water everywhere!”

I looked at Seth with widen eyes but he just smiled at me. Why the fuck wasn’t he freaking out like I was? We were both in bed, naked, with my best friend, who wasn’t supposed to find out about us, standing next to us. He grabbed his boxers that were still on the bed and put them on before he slid out of the sheets.

“Call me later.” he simply said as he kissed my red cheek.

He picked up his pants from the floor and waved to Felix before he headed outside of the bedroom. I followed him with my eyes, thinking that he had the most amazing ass I’ve heard seen.

“Get dressed you perv’.” Felix said as he threw me my clothes.

My friend turned around so that I could get out of the bed. I quickly put my shirt on and the short he gave me, my heart still pounding in my chest.

“Fe’… I…”

 “Just so you know, I already knew about you two.” Felix said with a smile.

“You did?” I asked, surprised.

How the fuck did he know? We were being so careful not to show anything in front of him. Or were we? Did Felix caught us when Seth was stealing kisses from me from time to time?

“How did y-.”

“Not now Ali.” he said. “I promise we’ll talk about it later. Help me clean this place.”

I nodded and started picking up dirty clothes on my bedroom floor to throw them in the basket. I’d rather clean this house a million times instead of having _that_ talk with Felix.

***

I was sitting on a stool in the kitchen, waiting for Felix to be done with the visit. I greeted the couple when they entered the apartment and immediately retreated to give them space. Hopefully, they’ll like what they see and they will rent the place. Felix wanted to get out of there. He was tired of this shitty apartment. It was a cool place, in my opinion, but I’ve only been living here for a year. He’s been here for four. It was a cozy place but it was old and my friend was sick of it. The minute he’d seen that other house a week ago, he knew he wanted to buy it. The visit was now over and I could see the couple near the front door, thanking Felix for his hospitality. My heart started beating faster and I want to tell them they could stay for another hour. I didn’t want to talk to my best friend about my other best friend.

“Are they taking it?” I asked him when he joined me in the kitchen.

“They seemed very interesting.” Felix answered as he took a bottle of water out of the fridge. “They have some things to check first but they said they were going to get back to me tomorrow morning.”

“That’s good news.”

“Yes, it is.”

He sat on the stool next to mine and looked at me in silence. I was getting uncomfortable and I wanted to run away as fast as possible to avoid what was next. I now had to explain to my best friend what was going on with Seth.

“So…” Felix started.

“Yeah…”

“Why didn’t you tell me about you two?”

That was the question that scared me the most. I didn’t want my friend to think that I didn’t trust him, ‘cause I’d trust him with my life. I had no idea what to say and the silence between us wasn’t pleasant at all.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew?”

“Because obviously you didn’t want me to so I was waiting for you to say something.” Felix said with a smile. “It’s not like I hadn’t given you opportunities for you to come clean.”

“How did you find out?” I asked. “When did you find out?”

I wanted to know where Seth and I fucked up our cover. In my opinion, we were being very careful and I had no idea how the hell my friend found out about us.

“Whoa, hold on.” Felix said holding a hand in front of him. “I’m the one asking the questions.”

I rolled my eyes and stole his bottle of water. I was getting nervous and dehydrated. I hated the way Felix was looking at me and I had the impression that I was at a police station for interrogation on the latest murder. Yeah, he was that intense.

“When did it start?”

“After the wedding.”

“Who made the move?”

“Seriously Felix?”

“Who made the move Alison?”

“I did.”

A smile lightened up his face. Why the hell was he so happy about it? Probably because I never had the guts to make a move on a man, especially after everything that had happened with Patrick. My self-esteem had been crushed by this jerk and Felix was just so happy that I was making progress.

“When did you find out?” I asked.

I didn’t care that Felix wanted to be the one asking the questions, I needed to know.

“When you came back from the wedding, there was something weird about you two. Since you guys met, there was always that sexual tension...”

“No.” I stated. “When I met Seth, I hated him. He was a complete asshole.”

“Maybe, but the tension between you two was still there. Then, you came back after the wedding and the tension wasn’t there anymore.”

“So you never actually caught us?” I asked. “You just used your sixth sense?”

“The way you were looking at each other gave me a hint, but I never caught you.” Felix said with a smile. “And the way you reacted when I told you Mandy was covering the event in Miami, it just confirmed everything. Did you really think I was going to believe your dumb story about that random dude you met in a bar?”

“Yeah… I thought I was pretty convincing.”

“Believe me honey, you were not.” he said as he burst into laughter.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Nah… I’m just glad that you guys are finally together.”

I almost choked and spilled water everywhere. Now I had to tell him that Seth and I were not a couple.

“See… that’s the thing….” I started. “We’re not.”

“What?” Felix asked, confused.

“We are not together.”

“Alison…”

His voice was full of judgment and even though I knew it was coming from a good place, it made me mad. That was the reason why I didn’t want him to know about Seth and me.

“I’m not ready to commit to someone yet Felix.” I said as I lowered my eyes. “What we have… it’s good. It’s simple.”

Felix lifted my chin with one finger and forced me to look at him.

“So that’s why you didn’t tell me, huh?” he said.

“I know what you think of fuck buddies…”

My best friend stared at me for what seemed like forever. He wasn’t mad at me for not telling what was going on but now that he knew the real reason why we kept it a secret, he’d probably wanted to kill me.

“Are you happy?” he asked.

“Yes, I am.” I answered without hesitation. “I swear Felix. What we have now is more than enough for me. I don’t want more. I can’t have more.”

“But you deserve more.”

“I know… but I’m not ready for that yet.”

“Fine.”

He stood up and turned around to leave the room. I had a knot in my stomach and I wasn’t feeling good at all.

“Are you mad at me, now?” I asked, making him stop.

Felix cupped my face and kissed my forehead.

“Of course not.” he said with a smile. “I don’t like that idea at all, but if it’s what you want, I can’t judge.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be honey. You’re one hell of a lucky girl you know that?”

I laughed as my friend left the room.

***

I unlocked Seth’s front door with the spare key he had given me a couple of months ago and smiled when I spotted him in his living room. He was lying down on his couch, eyes closed and it looked like he had fallen asleep. The movie Fight Club was still playing on the TV and I smiled, thinking about our first night together back in California. I made my way to the couch and lied down next to him, trying my best not to wake him up. Seth smiled and passed an arm around me to bring me closer to his chest. I buried my face in his neck and melted in his embrace.

“Glad to know you’re still alive.” he murmured. “How did he take it?”

“Ugh…” I groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it…”

I just wanted to stay in his arm, in silence.

“Was that bad?”

“No. He said as long as I was happy, he was OK with it.”

“Are you?” he asked as he cracked an eye open.

“Yeah…” I said as I slowly brushed my lips against his.

Seth kissed me back and smiled. We stayed tangled up on his tiny couch for a while, without saying anything and it just felt good. I didn’t want to leave.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” I asked.

“Of course.”

“I meant, actual sleeping…”

“I know.” he said with a smile. “I’d be more than happy to spend the night with you in my arms.

Felix was right. I really was lucky to have a best friend like him and a fuck buddy like Seth Freaking Rollins.


	24. Chapter 24

After we fell asleep on the couch, Seth woke up and carried me to his bed, where I spent the rest of the night in his arms. I groaned when my phone started ringing and search for Seth in the bed but he wasn’t there anymore. I slowly woke up and reached for the device that was still in my pants. I tried to grab it without getting out of the bed, but when I understood that I was going to fall, I decided to get up instead.

“Good morning!” Felix sang on the other side of the line.

“Ugh…”

I’ve never been a morning person and he knew it. He just loved messing with me every time I was waking up, always greeting me with his stupid joy. I sat back on the bed as I activated the speaker phone so that I could lie back down.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m at Seth’s place.”

It felt so good to finally tell the truth about all this. I hadn’t realized until now how bad it made me feel to constantly lie to my best friend. It was like a weight had been lifted up off my shoulder and it felt great. It also felt amazing to wake up in Seth’s bed, without having to freak out about getting home as soon as possible before Felix realized I was gone. Maybe I should’ve said something to him earlier. I could hear Seth in the kitchen and that thought made me smile. I thought he left and I was happy that I’d get to see him all morning.

“You had a great night?” Felix asked.

I could hear him smile and it made me smile too. I told my friend that indeed I did have a great night but it was not what he had in mind. Nothing actually happened between Seth and me. It was the first time that we just fell asleep without having sex and a part of me thought it just felt amazing.

“Anyway, I’m calling to tell you that the couple that came to visit yesterday are taking the apartment.”

“That’s so cool!” I said. “I’m so happy for you Fe’.”

“I’m going to settle the last details for the house and if everything goes as planned, we should be able to move out by the end of the week.”

“So soon?” I asked, surprised. “But we still have so much to do.”

“That’s why I’m gonna need you to focus on me instead of Seth for the week, ‘cause I need you to start packing.”

It was actually a very good timing. Last night, as we were getting to bed, Seth had told me that he had to leave for three weeks because of the European tour. He had a week of house shows and then he would take the plane for London without coming back home. I was a bit sad about it but I didn’t really have the time to process it that I was already falling asleep again. Seth was coming back in the bedroom with plates in his hands and a big smile on his face. I moved on the bed to give him some space. I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. He put the plates on the bed. He had prepared us a bunch of stuff to eat. There were pancakes, fruit and eggs and my stomach started groaning just by the sight of it.

“Breakfast in bed?” I silently asked as I pointed the food.

Seth didn’t answer and simply kissed me on the forehead before he shoved a strawberry in his mouth.

“Guys, I’m still here.” Felix said on the phone. “No fucking while I’m on the phone.”

“Ugh…” I growled, annoyed by my friend. “Why did we tell him again?”

“He caught us sweetheart.” Seth said, laughing. “Hi Felix!”

“Hey Seth! I need you to leave my best friend alone for the week. She has packing to do.”

I told Felix that he didn’t have to warn Seth about this and that he could count on me. After I said goodbye to my best friend, I hung up and picked up some raspberries in one of the plates.

“What’s up with all this?” I asked.

Seth smile and told me that since I always had to sneak up on the morning, we never took time to eat breakfast so he thought he could surprise me with a breakfast in bed. That sounded like what a boyfriend would do, but this morning, I didn’t mind at all. It just felt great to stop hiding. I thanked him as I took a bit off of one pancake.

“It’sh delish-ious.” I said with my mouth full.

We ate in silence, too busy savoring the good food to talk. Seth was smiling at me from time to time and I was too. After we emptied the plates, I lied down on my back, groaning. I definitely ate too much.

“So you’re moving out?” Seth asked after he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Apparently I do.” I let out in a sigh.

“You don’t seem too excited about that.”

I was. I was very happy for Felix but the thing was that I was feeling like a burden to my friend. I’d been living with him for a year now and I couldn’t thank him enough for what he did for me. I was actually glad that he decided to move out even if I would’ve liked to stay there. At least I knew he wasn’t basing his life on me.

“You don’t want to get your own place?” Seth asked.

“Yeah, maybe I should.”

Maybe I should’ve kept the apartment while Felix would go to live in his new house, but a part of me felt like I still needed him. I told Seth that maybe I should start looking for places but that I didn’t want to commit to it. If I rented an apartment and came to realize that I can’t live alone yet, I would be screwed and forced to pay for the whole year.

“You could stay here.”

“Here, you mean _here_?” I asked, as my heart started beating faster. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

A night without sex, a breakfast in bed and a proposal to move into his house was definitely too much for me. I didn’t like where this was going at all.

“Relax, I’m not asking you to move in with me.” Seth said as he put a hand on my thigh. “I’m just suggesting that you could stay here, since I’m never really here. This house could use some love.”

“This place must cost a lot. I can’t afford it.”

“Come on Ali. You wouldn’t have to pay anything.”

“So you’re just going to let me live here without anything in return?” I asked, raising my eyebrows in surprise.

“Well, it would be cool to know that you’d be in my house when I come back from a long week on the road. Would be easier for the both of us.”

I stared at Seth for a moment, in silence, trying to figure out if he was being serious or if he was messing with me. Turned out he looked pretty serious about it. I told him I’d give it a thought. It wasn’t a bad idea at all, it would allow me to know how I would feel being alone in a house. It could be a first step and then I could maybe find myself a small apartment near Felix’s new place.

“You don’t have to decide anything now, you already have the key anyway.” Seth said. “You can move some of your stuff in while I’m gone, I really don’t mind.”

“Do you really have to go?” I let out, without thinking.

Why the hell did I suddenly sounded like a needy girlfriend. Seth didn’t make any comments and just passed his arm around me to bring me closer to his chest, telling me that he had no choice and that he’d rather stay in bed with me all those weeks.

“Yeah right.” I said playfully. “You’re going to meet a whole lot of European girls out there, I’m sure you won’t miss me at all.”

“I will.” he said as he kissed my forehead. “I will.”

***

The truck was already parked in our drive way and the three guys from the moving company were climbing the stairs to get to our apartment. Today was the big day. It was now more than official. Felix and I were moving out in his new place. We had one hell of a stressful week. At one point, we thought we would run out of time. My best friend had so much thing to pack, but we ended up putting the most of it to the garbage. I convinced him to get rid of all his crap, saying that it was a new beginning.

“Could you get it Ali?” Felix yelled when he heard the bell ring.

I reached for the door and opened it, greeting the three guys with a smile.

“Hi, I’m Mitch.” said the one with the beautiful blue eyes.

He seemed to be the leader of the group. I shook their hands and let them inside. While I was showing them around, Felix came to join us. He presented itself to them with his famous flirty voice. I gave him a look and he smiled at me.

“They’re hot right?” he said once the guys got back outside to get the truck ready to be packed.

I took a peek outside and look at them. Felix was right. Those guys were hot as hell. It was nice to know we would spend the day in such good company. Unfortunately for my friend, none of them seemed to be playing in his team.

“You could be surprised honey. The taller one winked at me when you weren’t looking.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“Not at all.” Felix said with a big smile.

The guys came back inside and started packing our furniture in their truck. I caught the taller one peeking at Felix from time to time and I had to admit that my friend was right. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go out after. I laughed as I went back to my room when I noticed that some of my boxes were already gone.

_Shit_ , I thought.

I ran to the living room and spotted the blue eyes guy with my boxes in his hands.

“No no no.” I said as I stopped him. “I’m going to take these into my cars.”

“It’s OK I got them.” he told me with a smile. “Wouldn’t want you to get hurt or anything, they are pretty heavy.”

“What’s going on here?” Felix asked as he joined us.

_Shit,_ I thought again.

“Why won’t you let him take the boxes? It’s why I pay them.”

“Please leave the boxes here, I’ll take care of them later.” I said to Mitch so that he could go away. “I haven’t told you about this yet…”

“What?” Felix asked, confused.

“I’m going to stay at Seth’s place for a while.”

I wanted to wait until we are settled in the new house to let my friend know that I accepted Seth’s offer. I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t want to move to the new place. I planned on taking some of the boxes with me so that Felix wouldn’t notice. I would’ve waited a week before telling him I was going to leave for a while.

“You’re moving him with him?”

“I’m not moving in. I’m just going to spend a couple of weeks there.”

“Why? I thought Seth was in Europe.”

“Yeah he is, that’s actually why he said I could go. I wanted to know how it would feel to live alone… you know… after all that happened with Patrick.”

“I thought you were fine with me.”

“I am Fe’, but I can’t stay a burden forever.”

“Ali…”

“I just want to see how I feel with this whole living alone thing, OK?”

“Yeah fine.” Felix said as he left the room.

Was he actually mad at me? What the hell was wrong with him? I thought he would be happy. He was always the one saying that I was making so much progress into becoming more and more confident about myself and now that I was taking that big of a step, he was acting weird. I decided to let it go for now and took my boxes into my car. Mitch saw me and help me get them in my trunk. I thanked him with a smile. He asked me if everything was alright with Felix and I told him that everything was perfect even though my best friend was now avoiding me. We barely talked for the rest of the day and it was driving me crazy.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

“I’m not.” Felix said sharply.

He grabbed a box and went to leave his room but I stopped him.

“Dude, you said it yourself. We are paying these guys to move us out of here.” I told him as I grabbed his arm. “Drop the damn box and talk to me.”

“What do you want me to say?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe you could start by explaining why you’re mad at me.”

“I’m not mad, I just don’t think it’s a good idea that you go there.”

“Why?”

“How many guys have you dated since you guys started banging each other?”

I frowned my eyebrows and stared at him, in shock.

“What does this have to do with the fact that I’m going to spend some time at his house?”

“That’s what I thought.” Felix stated with anger in his voice. “I thought you guys could date other people.”

“We can.” I said sharply, as I felt the anger taking control of me.

“Then why is he going out with girls and you don’t. Why is he in Europe, dating all kinds of girls while you are going to wait for him at his house?”

“Whoa! I’m not waiting for h-“

“Why won’t you go on a date?” he asked, interrupting me.

“Because I don’t want to.”

“If Seth would ask you to go eat at a fancy restaurant, would you say yes?”

“Where the hell are you going with this?”

“Would you say yes?”

“Probably!” I shouted a little louder than expected.

“You’d go out with him but you don’t want to go on a date with another guy?”

“So what? He’s my friend.”

“No, he’s not. He’s your fuck buddy.”

What the fuck was he talking about? I was getting so mad that I could feel my cheek burn. I knew I was red but I didn’t give a fuck.

“Oh, so I’m not allowed to spend time with him? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Ali…”

“So according to you, Seth and I should just fuck? We shouldn’t talk or even have fun together?”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Felix shouted. “I just think that you’re having feelings for him and that you’ll end up getting hurt because he clearly doesn’t feel that way. Why do you think I hate what you two have? Because I know you dumbass! I knew you’d end up having feeling for him.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I let out in a sigh. “I don’t have feelings for him.”

Felix just stared at me for a moment. I could see the guys still taking stuff out of our apartment but I couldn’t care less about them right now. My best friend knew me better than anyone, but for the first time in his life, he was clearly wrong. I didn’t have feelings for Seth.

“Then if you don’t, maybe it’s time you date other guys before you actually start to have those feelings. I know you Alison, you will have feelings for him one day. Going to his house won’t make you any good.”

“If I go on a date, will you quit saying this?” I asked.

“Ben would like to take you out.” he simply said.

“What?!”

Ben was one of Felix good friend. He met him while he was playing an online game and they actually met each other one day. My friend thought he would stand a chance with him but turned out that guy was very much straight so they just stayed good friends. I’ve seen him a couple of times and he never seemed interested in me at all.

“He’s good-looking and he likes you.”

“If I go out with him, you promise to leave me alone with my relation with Seth?”

“Promise.” he said as he wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m still going to his place, you know that right?”

“I know.”

I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck. My best friend let out a laugh, saying that we were actually pathetic and it made me laugh a bit too. I knew he was just being a good friend here, but a part of me was still kind of mad at him.


	25. Chapter 25

More than two weeks later, I was slowly getting used to living alone. It was hard at first because I felt like an intruder in Seth’s house, but I felt as ease pretty quickly. He had that big collection of video games and that was exactly what I needed to keep my mind occupied. I put on some sports game and tried to beat all his record, so that I could tease him when he’d get back. I was missing him a lot. We had spent a lot of time apart in the past, but this time, I felt it was different. He didn’t text much. He couldn’t, given where he was. When he had the chance, he would get some Wi-Fi and send me emails, but it always seemed distant. He told me about the girls there, like he would normally do, but for some reason, it was bothering me.

This whole speech my friend gave me about having feeling got to my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe there was something more than the usual fuck buddy relationship between Seth and me, but that wasn’t definitely called feelings. I would’ve known. Felix was still on my back with that date with his friend Ben. I said I was going, but I never said when. Even though things were still a bit weird after that fight we had, I spent a lot of time at my best friend’s new house. Every time we’d see each other, he’d tell me about how Ben was excited to go on a date with me. I finally agreed to meet him tonight. I talked to the guy and we agreed he would pick me up at four. He wanted to go out for a walk before we could go eat dinner at a restaurant. He asked me where I wanted to go, but I told him he could choose. Any other guy would have insisted but he didn’t and I actually liked that about him.

Surprisingly, I was pretty excited for this date. Since I already knew him, I wasn’t nervous at all. After I took a long and hot shower, I toweled myself and put on a white pair of jeans and a black tank top that Felix had bought me especially for tonight. I hated when he was doing that, but this time, I approved his choice. It wasn’t the kind of clothes I would usually wear, but it wasn’t that bad. I quickly dried my hair with the hair-dryer that I had brought up with me and pull them into a high ponytail. Felix convinced me to put on some make-up. Just a bit though. I didn’t want to look like someone else. I actually wanted Ben to like me for me. My phone rang as I was giving my lips a soft touch of gloss. I looked up at the screen and smiled. I hit that green button to answer the call and immediately put it on speaker.

“Hey you.”

Of course Felix would call me minutes before my date. He would certainly want to make sure that I was ready, physically and mentally.

“I put on that tank top, put my hair up, put on some mascara and some gloss.” I let out before he could ask questions.

“Good girl.” he said laughing. “Ben just called me. He’s on his way. He looked pretty excited. How are you?”

I thought I was fine until he told me that Ben was coming to get me. It made this whole thing more real but I was still doing well. I reassured my friend, telling him that everything was under control before I asked him what he had planned for the night.

“You’re sure you don’t want to come with us?”

“Alison, the point of going on a date is to be alone with the guy.”

“You could play backup.” I suggested.

“It’s Ben. Trust me, you’ll be just fine.”

I knew I was. I told Felix that I was just messing with him.

“Have you talked to Seth lately?”

I sighed, trying my best to hide it from him. Why was he bringing him up now? It pissed me off that he was at the other end of the world and I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to think about what that anger meant.

“We’re exchanging emails.” I simply said, not wanting to get into details.

“Does he know you’re going out?”

I had not told Seth about Ben at all. Even though he was telling me about those Europeans girls, I didn’t feel the need to let him know. I was free to do what I wanted right? That was the whole point of our relationship. It was not like I had the intention of sleeping with Ben on the first night. I didn’t even know if I would ever want to be with him that way. One step at a time like Felix had said when he convinced me to go out with him.

“I have to go now Fe’. I need to get ready.” I said, not bothering answering his stupid question about Seth.

“Don’t forget your whore boots.” he said laughing.

“If you call them whore boots one more time, I’m canceling the whole thing.”

“I’m kidding you honey, you look hot as hell in those.”

“Thank you, babe.” I said with a smile. “I’ll call you later.”

After I hung up, I made my way to Seth’s living room to see if Ben was waiting for me outside. I still had some more time to get ready. I texted him, asking to text me back when he’ll be there, so that he won’t have to get out of the car. I didn’t want him inside. It was obviously not my house and I didn’t want him to think I had someone else in my life. Even if I kind of did. I brushed my teeth quickly and took one last look at the reflection in the mirror. What I had in front of me was a whole lot different than what I was a year ago. It was a lot different of what I looked like when I first met Ben. As I was heading out of the bathroom, I heard the front door close.

“Ali?”

“What the hell?” I let out in a sigh.

I made my way to the living room and stood there in shock. Seth was putting his luggage on the ground and he had that big smile on his face. Before I could say anything, his arms were wrapped around me and he was pulling me in the biggest hug possible.

“What are you doing here?” I said when he finally let go of me.

“I had some problem with my shoulder.” he explained. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. They gave me a few days off and I was able to come back early.”

Seth pulled me closer to his chest and buried his face in my neck.

“You smell so good.” he murmured. “I missed you so much.”

I wanted to say it back but the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. Between Ben coming to pick me up for our date and Seth being back home early and looking that hot, I was so torn.

“Are you going somewhere?” he said as he took a step back to run his eyes up and down on me.

“Yeah, I…” I started.

“Where are we going?”

Any other human being would have thought it was rude of him to just assume he was invited, but I couldn’t blame him. Since we started seeing each other as friends, every damn time he was in town, he would go out with Felix and me. He had every right to assume.

“I’m actually going on a date.” I let out.

“Oh.”

An awkward silence came between us and I suddenly hated myself for agreeing into staying at his place. If I would’ve been at Felix’s, none of this would’ve happened. Seth had that weird look in his face and for the first time, I couldn’t read him at all. I had no idea what he had in mind.

“But I’m here now.” he said with a weird voice. “You don’t have to go out. We could just stay here and watch a movie. I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“I’m sorry Seth, I can’t just cancel like that. Ben is on his way.”

“Who’s Ben anyway?”

_Who’s acting like a jealous boyfriend now?_ I thought.

I was tempted to tease him with this but the look on his face told me that I should just shut up.

“One of Felix’s friend. He’s a great guy.”

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to tell your fuck buddy about how your date is an awesome dude. I wasn’t nervous for the date but Seth being there in front of me made me feel a whole lot different about that upcoming night.

“Where’s Felix? Is he going as your back up?”

“No. Like I said, it’s one of his friends and I already know him. I don’t need back up on this one.”

My phone buzzed in my back pocket, making me jump slightly. I took a look outside and saw Ben’s car in the driveway. Seth watched me in silence as I put my boots on.

“I’ll see you later, OK?” I told him.

Seth grabbed my hand as I was going to open the door. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to kiss me but he simply rubbed his thumb on my wrist.

“You’re beautiful.” he simply said as he looked at the floor.

He turned around, grabbed his luggage and headed to his bedroom without saying anything else. I heavily sighed as I opened the door to join Ben outside.

***

Ben and I went to take a walk in the park near the restaurant before we went to eat. He talked a lot about him, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t have much to say anyway and he was a great story teller. He wasn’t just talking about himself though. He was asking questions about me too. When I told him I wasn’t as half as interesting as he was, he laughed. He looked very handsome with his short blond curly hair and his big blue eyes. He was the complete opposite of Seth, but he was still very attractive. We laughed together, talking about how Felix was more excited than we were for our date. He told me that my friend had been bothering him for a while. He wanted him to ask me out. I told Ben how Felix made me believe that he was the one very interested in me and it made him laugh. He assured me that he was, but probably not as much as my best friend had told me. We were having a great time. He was such a nice guy that I didn’t mind at all when he suddenly took my hand when we were walking. It actually felt good. He led me to the restaurant and the girl at the reception gave us a table in a private spot. Everything was just perfect.

“So, how is it working with Felix?” he asked me with a smirk as we sat down.

“It’s cool actually.” I admitted as I looked at the menu. “He can be very intense sometimes, but at work, he’s really professional.”

The waitress came to see us and took our order. After she left, we kept on talking about everything and nothing. It was the first time I was going out on a date and that it felt right from the very beginning. We found out that we had a lot of points in common and we had a bunch of things to talk about. After we finished our plates, I asked him to excuse me and I made my way to the bathroom. I was tempted to call Felix to let him know how well it was going but I decided he could wait. He deserved to wait after all he put me through with this date. I even had close my phone to avoid getting texting by him or worst, by Seth. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I was still looking just fine.

“I don’t know about you, but I want a cheesecake so badly.” I said, laughing, as I sat back on my chair.

Ben had this serious look on his face that got me a bit worried. I asked him if everything was alright, but it took him a while before he finally said it was. I started thinking that I might have done something wrong but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Was it something that I said?

“I’m sorry Ali, I have to go.”

“Seriously Ben, what’s wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I just need to go. The bill has been taken care of.”

I didn’t know what I did wrong and I needed to know. He stood up and went to leave but I grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not.” he said as he gently pressed my hand. “I just wish you had told me you were already with someone.”

With that being said he just left, leaving me confused. Where the hell did he get that from? As I was following him with my eyes, my gaze stopped on a man sitting by the bar. His long dark hair and those brown eyes were very familiar.

“Son of a…” I mumbled as Seth stared back at me.


	26. Chapter 26

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever before Seth finally stood up and left the restaurant. I stood there for a moment, in shock, before I started to run after him. I thanked the waitress with a smile when I bumped into her and continue to pursue Seth. I pushed the big door on my way out and looked around, trying to find him. I was beyond pissed at him. What the fuck was he doing here? How the fuck did he even found us? I couldn’t believe that he’d follow me when I was going on a date. What the fuck was his problem and most of all, what the fuck did he say to Ben? He was a great man and I was actually enjoying myself for once and he had to fuck it all up. I finally spotted Seth a little bit further away, leaning on the wall with his hands in his pockets.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I yelled as I walked toward him.

Seth didn’t say a word and just looked at me with his big brown chocolate eyes.

“I was actually having a great time before you decided to show up.”

“He’s not right for you.”

“And who the fuck are you to decide?” I snap back at him. “Ben is a great guy OK? For the first time in over a year, it didn’t feel weird to be around another guy! And you had to screw everything up.”

“I didn’t screw up anything.” he simply said, very calm.

“What did you say to him?”

“Nothing.” he mumbled as he looked into my eyes.

“Oh so he just happened to think I had someone in my life?” I yelled.

I was beyond mad. I wanted to punch him so badly. People on the street where stopping to look at us, probably thinking that we were just another couple that were going through a hard time. The fact is that we were not together. We shouldn’t be fighting like this. He had absolutely no right over me.

“You’re an asshole you know that?”

“Yep… you’ve been saying that a lot since we met.” he said with a smirk.

I wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Not at all.

“So when you go on dates, I should just sit here and say nothing, but when I am the one seeing another man, you get to act like a jealous boyfriend? Well, guess what, we are not together Seth. I can do whatever I want and you can’t say anything about it.”

“I am n-.” he started.

“This is so unfair.” I shouted, interrupting him.

His face change from calm to angry within seconds.

“You want to know what’s not fair?” he snapped. “You want me to tell, huh?”

People were asking us if everything was OK but both of us were ignoring them. It concerned us, they had nothing to do with it. Seth shouted to one of them that he could go on with his life and leave us alone. I’ve never seen him that mad before. I was the one that was supposed to be angry, not him.

“It’s not fair that this guy gets to take you to a restaurant and not me. It’s not fair that he can hold your hand in public while I can’t.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? You agreed to this. You’re the one that proposed this whole thing to begin with.”

“And why do you think I did, huh?” he replied. “For Christ’s sake Ali, I saw your face that morning after the wedding. I knew how bad it made you feel, how you regretted it, how you were worried because you weren’t ready for relationship. What was I supposed to do?”

Seth put his hand on my shoulder and forced me to look at him. I could see how hurt he was and I didn’t know where that was coming from. I had no idea what was going on right now. What the hell was he talking about?

“I knew after what happened that night that we couldn’t just go back to being just friends. I didn’t want to lose you Ali.” he said with a broken voice. “I wanted you in my life and that was the only option. I thought we could do that for a while, until you’d be ready for more. It’s not fair that when you’re finally ready to commit to someone, you seek for other guys, when I’m right here, fucking waiting for you.”

I didn’t know what to say. My heart was pumping a million miles an hour and I couldn’t think straight. How could I have not seen it coming? I never realized until now that Seth and I were way more than simple fuck buddies.

“What about all those other girls?” I asked.

“I’ve never been on a single date since the day we got caught by that storm.”

“Liar.”

“You can call me an asshole Alison, but don’t say I’m a liar because I’m not.”

“You lied when you told me about those other girls.” I said. “Why?”

“Because I didn’t want you to think I was expecting anything else from you. I thought that if you thought I was seeing other people, you wouldn’t think I was expecting something else from you. I didn’t want to scare you away. I was willing to do whatever it take to keep you with me until the day you’d be ready to be more than my fuck buddy. I know it doesn’t make any sense but…”

Seth stopped and looked at the ground. I wanted to tell him that it did made sense but I was speechless.

“I didn’t say anything to that guy, by the way.” he said after a moment of silence. “Felix is the one that called him. After you left, I tried to call him. I wanted to know more about Ben. The fact that you already knew him scared the shit out of me. I had to do something about it, I couldn’t just let you go that easily. Felix didn’t pick up so I went to his house. I wanted to know where you went but he wouldn’t tell me. He said you deserved better than me, that you deserved someone who’d love you and not someone who’d fucked you.” Seth said, letting out a sharp laugh. “When I told him I was in love with you, he tried to call Ben and he told me where you were.”

“Wait, what?”

Did he just say he loved me?

“He wanted to be the one to tell Ben to back off, but I was there in case he couldn’t join him.” Seth continued. “I’m sorry. I know it’s very selfish of me to act this way, but I can’t lose you that easily. Not without trying.”

Seth took a step closer and leaned his forehead against mine, in silence. He wrapped his arms around me and we stayed like that for a while before he started talking again.

“I don’t want to be your dirty little secret anymore. I want to go out, take you to the movie and to the restaurant. I want to hold your hand in public. I want everybody to know you’re mine. Especially all these people that keep looking at us like we are freaks from another planet.”

I laughed and buried my face in his chest. My heart was about to burst out of my chest. There was a part of me that was scared as fuck and wanted to cry but the other part of me just felt amazing and confident. Seth said he loved me and as much as I hated to admit it, Felix was right. I did have feelings for that man.

“I want to kiss you right now.” he said as he placed a stray of my hair behind my ear.

“Then what are you waiting for, asshole?” I asked with a smile. “Just kiss me already.”

I didn’t have to repeat it twice. Seth lips immediately found mine. The world stopped and it was just us.

***

After our fight and reconciliation, Seth and I went back to his house. He wanted to take me out but I told him we’d had a lot of other nights to do so. I just wanted to go back home with him and spend the night in his arm. I still couldn’t believe what’d just happened. He really did say that he loved me and he said he did for a very long time. I was so stupid. I should’ve known. I was so scared of commitment that I decided to shut my eyes on this one and pretended we were simple fuck buddies. I wish he’d said something sooner, but again, I knew I would’ve freaked out. I wasn’t ready back then but I sure was now. I wanted more. I wanted him to hold my hand in public, to go out with him and to kiss him whenever I wanted. I was smiling like an idiot as Seth parked his car in the driveway. Like a perfect gentleman, he opened my door and offered me his hand that I gladly took. As soon as he closed the door, I jumped into his arms.

“Whoa!” he yelped, surprised.

“I didn’t welcome you back earlier.” I said with a flirtatious voice.

Seth moaned as I crashed my lips onto his. He grabbed my ass with both his hand earning a groan from me. I wanted him and I wanted him now. I’ve never been so sure of something in my whole life.

“Does that mean I get to call you boyfriend from now on?” I asked with a wicked smile as I attacked his neck with my tongue and my teeth.

“Only if I get to call you my girlfriend.”

“Ugh, I like the sound of that.”

“If only I’ve known, I would’ve called you that a lot sooner.” he said with a smirk.

Seth carried me to his bed and slowly lied me down on my back before he covered me with his body. I slipped my hand under his shirt and gently rubbed on his back, making him shiver under my touch. I could feel the goosebumps on his skin and knowing that I was the one responsible for it made me squirm.

“I missed you so much, Ali.”

“I missed you too.”

I slowly brushed my lips on his. He parted them just enough for my tongue to find his. It was a tender and soft kiss, like we never had before. Between Seth and me, it was always, passionate and intense but tonight, neither of us wanted to rush things. The night was ours and we both planned to make the most of it. Seth lied down on his side and brought me closer to his chest without breaking the kiss. We were holding on to each other like we never did before. I didn’t want to let him go, too scared that it might have been a dream.

“Did you really say that you loved me?” I let out in a sigh.

“I said that I told Felix I was in love with you.” he said with a smirk. “I didn’t really say I love you.”

I laughed as I ran my hand into his long dark hair. I missed his touch, I missed his hair, I missed his beard even though my face was hurting every time we kissed, I missed his lips, I missed his smile. I missed everything that he was.

“I do love you.” he said, with a more serious face. “From the moment I saw your little bitchy face when we first met, I knew there was something about you.”

“I wish I could say the same about you.”

“Aah, come on, don’t lie to me. You thought I was adorable as fuck.”

“No offense, but you were being an asshole.”

“Shut up.” he said as he crashed his lips onto mine.

I smiled, thinking that this could definitely be my life now. I could totally imagine myself, waking up to this handsome man and calling him my boyfriend. It just sounded so right.

“I love you too.” I let out in a sigh as I made my way on top of him.

He helped me take my shirt off and did the same with his. I groaned when my eyes laid on his chiseled chest. All I wanted was to run my tongue on it. I gently pushed him back on the bed and lie on top of him. Seth wrapped his arms around me as he was kissing the sweet spot in my neck. He slowly rolled us and was now the one on top. He tangled his fingers with mine and pinned my arms above my head.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve dreamed of that moment while I was all alone in Europe.”

“Oh really?” I asked, acting surprised. “And what happened next in that dream of yours?”

“My girlfriend was asking me to fuck her.”

My breath hitched and my heart skipped a beat as I heard those words coming out of his mouth. I had a knot in my stomach that needed to be released.

“And what did you say to her when she asked you that?”

Seth unbuttoned my jeans before he slowly unzip them to take them off. He left a trail of kisses from my knee to my jaw without saying anything. He kissed me sensually, as he brushed my breast with his fingers.

“You want to know what I told her?” he whispered in my ear as he pinched on of my nipples, making me moan loudly.

“Yes…” I mewled. “Tell me.”

“I told her I wouldn’t fuck her.”

I heavily sighed in frustration. That was not what I wanted to hear. I was so aroused and ready for him that I wanted him to tell me that he’d fuck me like he never did before.

“I told her I’d make love to her.” he finally let out.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but vacation is over now, I have to go back to reality which means I can't spend my mornings writing anymore !

I woke up the next morning, still pretty shaken up by what had happened. Seth didn’t lie when he said he was going to make love to me. I had always been the kind of girl that liked it rough, but what he did to me last night was incredible. I never thought sex could be so different. After nine years with the same guy, I finally opened my eyes, thanks to Seth. The way he thrust into me, softly, slowly and sensually was the most amazing thing I ever felt in my entire life and I was turned on just thinking about it. I didn’t want it to end. It lasted so long, but it was so good that I wanted more. After Seth had made me come like I never have before, he carried me to the bathroom and ran ourselves a hot bath. We stayed there for over an hour, my back pressed against his chest, talking about us, about the future. Our future.

“Good morning beautiful.” Seth said as I opened my eyes.

The sound of his voice made me smile. I never thought I would say this, but it was the nicest voice I’ve ever heard. That man was so annoying but yet adorable at the same time. I didn’t need anything more to be happy.

“Good morning sexy boyfriend.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Very well.” I let out in a sigh, as I was playing with his chest hair.

I didn’t like it when he was shaving it. I knew it looked better on camera when he was on TV but I’d rather have him covered in hair. While we were in the bath, I made him promise he would never shave his legs. Fortunately for me, he agreed.

“And you?” I asked as I delivered kisses on his arm.

“Best night ever.” he said with a wink. “And I’m not only talking about the sleeping part of it.”

“Oh no? What else could you be talking about?”

Seth burst into laughter and covered his face with his hands. I could see his cheeks getting red and knowing that I was the cause of that turned me on a little bit. I’ve never seen him shy. Since Seth admitted his feelings to me, he was becoming a whole new other person. He wasn’t the cocky arrogant fuck buddy anymore. He was my sweet, sensitive, shy and caring boyfriend.

“I don’t remember what happened last night.” I said, playing the innocent girl. “I think I need a reminder.”

“Oh really?” Seth said as he brought me closer to him.

I was more than ready to do that again, but he had a different plan in mind. After he sensually kissed me, he got out of bed, leaving me panting for more.

“Come on, get up.” he said as he threw me my clothes.

“No breakfast in bed?” I said as I pouted my lips. “I’m your girlfriend now, I deserve a breakfast in bed.”

“What about I take you out instead?”

“You mean, like a date?”

“Yeah.” he said with a bright smile. “I’m taking you out on what we’ll call our first official date.”

That sounded like a much better plan than breakfast in bed. Although I knew that if we stay in, we’d have more chance to have sex after we’d eat, but going out in the open with Seth was a very good idea and I was totally up for it. We’d have plenty of time for a good fuck later.

“Let me take a shower.” I said as I got out of bed and kissed him.

“What? You took a bath yesterday!” he said, surprised. “And if I remember correctly, I washed that hot body of yours very meticulously.”

I moaned in his mouth thinking about what he did to me in that bad and I nearly tripped on my feet when I tried to get away from him, but Seth caught me just in time.

“I went to sleep with my hair still wet so now I look horrible.”

“You don’t. Come on, let’s go.”

I sighed as I put my clothes on and followed him. I could totally just pulled my hair up. Especially since my boyfriend admitted that he preferred ponytails, because he loved necks. He didn’t want me to take a shower? Then he would be the one suffering at the view of my beautiful neck.

***

There were a lot of people in the restaurant and I was scared to death. It was the first time that we would really go out just the two of us. We went out a lot in bars at night, with Felix, but now it wasn’t the same thing. During day light, I had the impression that everyone could see me more clearly. I was a bit scared of the judgment, but I was constantly telling myself that I didn’t care. I shouldn’t care at all. I was who I was and if they had anything to say about it, screw them. My boyfriend loved me just the way I was and that was more than enough for me.

The hostess had that big smile on her face when she recognized Seth and she had the decency to lead us to a more private spot in the back of the restaurant. As we were following her, he took my hand in his and we walked in front of all those people, as if he wasn’t the most popular wrestler. Seth had warned me about fans and paparazzi. I knew there was a good chance of being interrupted by someone who wanted his autograph or a picture with him but I didn’t mind. Paparazzis were a whole other problem though. They were hungry sharks and we were their prey so we decided that we wouldn’t bring too much attention to ourselves. I wasn’t really the kind of girl that would make out in public anyway so everything was fine. We sat at our place and Seth put his hand on the table, inviting me to take it. He wrapped his fingers around my hand and slowly brushed my skin, making me smile. For the first time in years I was genuinely happy.

“Everything OK?” Seth asked after we gave our order to the waiter. “You’re frowning your eyebrows.”

“Everything is perfect. I was just thinking about how we got to this point.”

“It was on hell of a ride!”

“Indeed it was.” I said with a smile. “I’m glad you didn’t give up on me. I was being a complete bitch at first.”

“Yeah, but apparently I was an asshole, so I guess we were just made for each other.”

We burst into laughter as the waiter brought our plate. I had ordered a giant waffle with a million fruits on top and it looked delicious. I told myself that I would have to run and train a lot to get rid of all the fat and calories that were in my breakfast but I didn’t really care. I just wanted to enjoy my date with my boyfriend and eating crap was part of the deal.

“Ugh, it’s so good to see you two together!” we heard besides us.

I turned to my left and open my mouth in shock. Felix was standing next to us, with a big smile on his face. He grabbed the chair at another table and bring it closer to us.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around him before he could sit down.

“I invited him.” Seth said. “Let’s just say that I owed him a lot.”

“So…” Felix said to me as he sat on his chair. “How was your date last night?”

He still had that big smile face but I didn’t think it was funny at all. Actually, I felt very bad for Ben. The poor guy must’ve thought I was a complete bitch. I made him lose his time and I didn’t even apologize to him.

“How is he?” I asked to my best friend.

“He’s going to be OK. I called him a little bit later last night to explain the whole situation and he understands. I apologized to him because I was the one who forced him to invite you. If only I had known that Mr. Asshole over here was in love with you.”

“Why am I am asshole now?” Seth shouted, in shock.

“I thought you had a sixth sense for those kinds of things.” I said, ignoring what my boyfriend just said.

“I had no idea about him, but I certainly knew about you, though.” Felix said as he pointed me.

He did. My best friend knew something that I didn’t even knew myself. How the hell was that even possible? When I asked, he simply said that he saw the way I was acting when I was around him and it was clear that it was more than just a thing.

“By the way…” Seth said, trying to make his way into our conversation. “I’m sorry about last night.”

“It’s fine.” Felix answered with a smile. “I get it now.”

“What happened exactly?” I asked.

Seth did say that things were pretty intense, but he never told me what happened. Felix sighed as he looked at my boyfriend. Seth simply nodded, as if he was giving him permission to tell me everything.

“Well… he called me like a hundred times…”

“Twenty.” Seth pointed out.

“It was more than twenty but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t want to pick up because I was mad at him and I didn’t want to tell him that you were on a date. The thing is that I didn’t know that he was already aware of that.”

“Why were you mad at me anyway?” Seth asked, confused. “I don’t recall doing anything mean to you.”

“Yeah what’s that about?” I said, curious to know why my best friend had been suddenly pissed at my new boyfriend.

“I felt like he was restraining you. Like you were missing so much because he got you wrapped around his finger, like he could take advantage of you.”

“But he didn’t-” I started.

“I know Ali.” Felix said, interrupting me. “Now, I know. Anyway, I didn’t want to talk to him so he decided to show up at my door. When I opened, he barged into the house yelling that it was unfair that I would arrange dates for you without talking to him first.”

“I wasn’t yelling.” Seth said with a smirk.

“He was totally yelling as soon as he got inside.” Felix added.

My best friend then told me about what he said to him once he had calm down. I already knew that he had told him something about me deserving to be loved and not only fucked, but when Seth had said that, I didn’t believe him, thinking he was exaggerating. Felix would never say things like that. That’s what I thought, but apparently, I didn’t know my friend as well as he knew me.

“Tell me you didn’t really say that.” I said as I shook my head.

“I was pissed.” Felix explained. “Anyway, that’s when he told me that he loved you and that he had for a long time but that he was waiting for you to be ready. Since I knew you were ready and that you secretly had feelings for him, I had to call the date off. Ben had told me where you two were going so I sent Seth to find you.”

“And here we are now.” Seth said as he raised his glass of orange juice.

“I’m just glad you two are finally together. It’ll be so much easier now.” Felix added. “By the way, I knew from the beginning that you were meant to be together.”

“Bullshit.”

“From the moment you laid eyes on him, it was settled. You just didn’t know it yet.”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s delusional.” I said to Seth, making him laugh even more.

“Oh I’m delusional?” Felix said as he raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to tell me that you were not thinking about him when you were all alone, naked in your bath back at the hotel in New York?”

“What?” Seth said as he looked at me, surprised.

How come Felix remembered that? I never even told him about that hot dream I had when I fell asleep in the bath, hours after I had interviewed him for the first time.

“You kept telling me I was an asshole and you were fantasizing about me the whole time?” Seth asked with a wicked smile.

“I was n-“

“Oh you were honey.”

“It was a dream!” I shouted a little harder than expected.

I felt my cheek getting red and they were burning. Seth was looking at me with his cocky grin and all I wanted was to run away. I was too ashamed and shy about this whole situation, but my boyfriend reassured me when he took my hand and told me it was actually hot.

“It’s not like I could’ve controlled it.” I added.

“I want to know what the dream was about.” Seth asked with a sudden interest in me.

“Maybe I’ll tell you later if you are nice enough.” I said to shut him off.

“So not fair. I want to know too.” Felix said as he crossed his arm over his chest.

“If you know me that well, just guess what happened.” I said as a challenge, thinking he would just stop talking about this whole dream thing

“I bet you were all-” he started.

“OK, time to pay the bill and get the hell out of here!” I said, interrupting him.

I should’ve known that nothing could ever shut my best friend’s big mouth. I stood up as both of the guys burst into laughter. With my redden cheek and my shame, I went to find the waiter so that he could bring the bill.


	28. Chapter 28

A month later, things were still great between Seth and me. It was hard to let him go back on the road but we managed to make it work. I trusted him like I had never trusted anyone before and it was the same for him. I would’ve liked to wake up next to him in the bed each and every morning, but I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to be his girlfriend. It made the time together even more enjoyable. Seth left yesterday for a week and I couldn’t wait for him to come back to me. I was sitting at my desk in my office, phone in hand, looking at pictures of us, when I received a call from him on Skype.

“Hey you.” I said with a smile when his big beautiful face appeared on the screen.

“Hey sweetheart.” he said. “How are you?”

“My day sucked until now.”

“Miss me already?”

“Yeah I do.”

“I miss you too. I wish I could be there to hug the shit out of you…” he let out in a sigh.

“A hug? That’s it?” I asked with a smirk.

Seth burst into laughter and that sound sent shivers down my spine. How could I already miss him if we saw each other yesterday? I was addicted to him and it was scaring me even though it was the best feeling in the world. I could see on the screen that my man was lying down in a bed and it made everything so much harder. I wanted to be with him instead of here, at work. He proposed that I could go with him, but I had responsibilities and I couldn’t just take off like this. We talked for a while until I was forced to let him go.

“I love you beautiful.” he said.

“Love you too.”

I sighed when his face disappeared of my screen and put down my phone on the desk. I stared at all the file I had to take care of today and swore. I really wished my life could be different now. I opened one of them and started my work, trying to forget about my super hot boyfriend. When I finally gained back all my focus, my door swung open, making me jump. Mandy barged into my office followed by Bert that closed the door behind him.

“So you guys don’t even bother to knock now?” I let out, a little annoyed by them.

“What is this?” Bert said as he put his phone in front of me, on my desk.

“A cellphone?”

“Don’t play that game Alison.” he said, anger filling his voice. “I’m talking about the picture.”

I knew he was talking about that. I wasn’t dumb. I just didn’t want to talk about what he was really showing me. On his phone, there was an article from one of our biggest competitors. The title was: “Who is Seth’s new girl?” and the picture on the screen showed him with me, hand in hand, walking down the street. It had been taking about a week ago and I remembered that night pretty clearly, since it was one of our most romantic dates we had as a couple. Seth had taken me out in this fancy restaurant and after, we went for a walk on the beach. It was cheesy, but we had so much fun.

“Tell me it’s not you.” Mandy said.

I almost forgot that she was in my office too. She was looking at me with her big eyes, as if I was an alien from another planet. This situation didn’t concern her in any way.

“What is she doing here?” I asked my boss.

“Answer the question.” Bert told me, as if I’d said nothing.

“I’m not going to say shit in front of her. This doesn’t concern her in any way.”

Mandy let out a sharp laugh but my boss gave her angry eyes and she immediately shut up. He stared back at me, his eyes running between the two of us.

“Leave us.” he finally told her.

“But Bert, if it’s her, it means...”

“I know Mandy. I’m going to handle it. Now leave.”

She heavily sighed as she left my office, closing the door on her way out, leaving me all alone with Bert. At that very moment, I had no idea who I was talking to. Was he my dad or my boss? I couldn’t say.

“It’s you isn’t it?”

“So what if it is?”

“Are you guys together?”

I stared at him in silence. I didn’t want to talk about my personal life with him. Especially since I already knew he would not approve.

“Yeah we are.” I finally said.

“How long?”

“That we are officially together or how long has he been fucking me?”

“Alison!” he growled, warning me that he wasn’t up for games.

“Hold on a second here. Am I talking to the boss or the dad?”

“What difference does it make?”

I burst into laughter, taking him by surprise. That’s all I could do or I would’ve started yelling and throwing things. I was so pissed off. Who the hell did he think he was?

“Well, if I’m talking to the boss right now, I’d tell him that my personal life doesn’t concern him in any way. You give me orders at work and sign my paychecks but you don’t get to say who I can or can’t date.”

“Fine, then I’m the dad now and I’m telling you that I don’t want you to see him.”

“Why?”

“It’s not good for the magazine. You can’t go out with the guy that is on our cover month after month. What will people think if they knew he was going out with one of our employees?”

“With your daughter.” I corrected him. “You said you were the dad right now. I’m not an employee, I’m your fucking daughter.”

“You know what I mean…”

“No dad, I don’t.” I shouted, interrupting him. “Why can’t you just be happy that I found someone good?”

It’s was his turn to let out a sharp laugh. I didn’t like where this discussion was heading and I just wanted to get the hell out of here.

“He’s not good for you.”

“And what makes you say that?”

Bert looked at me for a moment but couldn’t come up with one single reason. The only thing that mattered to him was his stupid magazine. He wasn’t concerned about me being with Rollins. He was concerned about his employee going out with him. He didn’t min who I got to call my boyfriend, as long as it wasn’t someone that could end up on his covers.

“I can’t believe you’re trying to interfere in my personal life for the sake of your fucking magazine.”

“It’s not just about that Alison, I’m concerned about you. You haven’t been yourself lately and…”

“Haven’t been myself? You’re kidding me right? So what, you’re telling me that being happy and joyful because I now have a man that makes me feel good about myself is what’s making you concerned about me?”

“Seth is always on the road, he won’t be there for you.”

“You’re right dad, he’s on the road roughly 300 days a year, but you know what? He’s still more present in my life than you ever were.”

“Paparazzi won’t leave you alone. They’re going to make your life a living hell.”

“I can handle myself dad.” I stated. “I’ve been taking care of myself since I’m a teenager. Since the day mom died to be precise. Since the day you stopped being my father.”

“Don’t say that.” he said with anger in his voice. “I care about you and I think Rollins isn’t good news. I think Patrick was a better fit for you.”

My heart stopped beating the moment he pronounced his name. The room started spinning around me as I was hearing his words over and over again. I didn’t know if I wanted to cry, throw up, yell or punch him. I stood up and put my hand on my desk to help me steady myself. He couldn’t have said that. I surely heard wrong.

“What did you just say?” I murmured, out of breath. “Did you say that Patrick was a better fit for me? Did you just fucking say that for real?”

My dad’s eyes widened. He could see in my face that I wasn’t feeling right but he couldn’t understand what was going on. If he really was the caring father that he pretended to be, he’d never say that. He’d known he should never talk about him. But again, my dad knew nothing about me. He knew nothing about my life with that bastard.

“Patrick was an abusive son of a bitch.” I growled. “How’s that a good thing?”

Anger took control of my body and I was glad that I didn’t let my fear win this time. I wasn’t that weak little girl anymore. I swore Patrick would never tear me apart again and I intended to keep that promise.

“Where were you when he was telling me how ugly I was and how bad I was at everything, huh? Where were you when he kicked me out of my own fucking apartment when he got bored of me? You were supposed to be there, to take care of me, to tell me that he wasn’t good for me, that I deserved better, that I was pretty, that I was the best at my job, that I was worth it but where the FUCK were you?” I shouted, making him jump. “You were probably busy fucking your fourth or fifth wife.”

“Alison… sweetie…I-I,” my dad stuttered after a few seconds of silence.

“Don’t. Don’t fucking sweetie me. Not now. Patrick was bad for me, dad, not Seth. But my relationship with him never interfered in your business, so you never really cared about it. My relationship with Seth can apparently fuck up your reputation and all of a sudden, he’s not a good guy for me? You were literally kissing his ass not so long ago and now you’re spitting on him?”

A part of me wanted to burst into tears but I forbid myself to. I couldn’t show him weakness. My anger was so out of control and I wish Felix or Seth were with me. Their presence was always calming me and I needed them so bad. My dad stayed there and looked at me without saying anything. There wasn’t anything left to say anyway. We were done. I had to get out of there. If he thought that I would stop seeing Seth just because he was asking me to, he really didn’t know me at all.

“Where are you going?” he finally asked when I grabbed my bag. “You can’t leave, we need you here. It’s the end of the month.”

I stared back at him and let out a sharp laugh. He was serious. After all the shit I’d just told him, all he could say to me was that he needed me to do my fucking work? I always thought my dad had lost his heart the day my mother died, but I never knew I was right. Sometimes, I just wished things were different, but then I remembered that my life was perfect the way it was, with Seth and Felix by my side. I didn’t need Bert at all. I picked up the phone and called the guy in charge of the payroll.

“Hey Kevin, I still have one week of vacation left right?”

My dad looked at me with anger in his eyes as my colleague was looking in his computer to give me the information I needed.

“Fine. I’m taking it now.” I said without breaking eye contact with my boss. “Thanks Kev.”

I hung up, grabbed my bag and walked pass my dad without looking at him.

“Alison, you can’t do this.”

“Apparently I can, ‘cause I just did.” I replied. “I’ll be in vacation for a week.”

“And who is going to do your job?”

“Mandy. She’ll be more than happy to do it, I’m sure.” I shouted as I walked away from him.

“Alison, come back here right now.”

“Sorry boss, I’m not taking orders from you when I’m on vacation. See you in a week!”

I left the building without looking back. I was being a bitch for leaving all of them in deep shit so close to the end of the month, but I knew they would do just fine without me. And if they didn’t, then screw them, I didn’t owe shit to anybody in there anyway.


	29. Chapter 29

** Chapter 29 **

After I left work, I decided to go to Felix’s house. I didn’t want to be alone tonight and going back to Seth’s house would make it so much more difficult. Even though Felix wasn’t home yet, I knew it wouldn’t be that long before he’d show up. I was still so pissed at my dad and I needed something to cool off a bit so as soon as I entered my best friend’s house, I went directly for the fridge and reached for a beer. It was the world’s worst habit to drown yourself in alcohol when you weren’t feeling good but it was the only thing that could calm me down besides my friend and my boyfriend but none of them were available right now. I tried to call Seth on my way here, but he didn’t answer his phone. He immediately texted me that he was in the middle of an interview and that he’d call me back as soon as possible.

After I opened my beer and took a big sip, I went to the living room, where I let myself fall on the couch. I looked at the clock and sighed. Felix would be home only in two hours and I was going crazy. I needed to talk to someone. I couldn’t believe what had just happened with my dad. I knew he never really cared about me, but I never thought it would be that bad. What the fuck was his problem? As I was fuming inside, I opened the TV to try to take my mind off of this whole mess. The WWE Network was the last channel that Felix must’ve been watching because it was what popped on the screen and I smiled when I saw my boyfriend’s face. It was an old PPV that had occurred a couple of months ago, before we even met. Even though we were together now, I still wasn’t a fan of wrestling, but I loved to watch his matches. I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him and his amazing body, thinking that this handsome human being was mine. I jumped when the door swung open, not realizing that I’d been watching wrestling for the past two hours.

“What are you doing here?” Felix asked as he came inside, closing the door behind him.

“Didn’t want to be alone tonight.” I explained. “And since Seth is on the road, I thought I could crash here.”

Even though I was living with Seth, I still had a room at Felix’s house and my best friend made it pretty clear that I could come whenever I wanted as if it was my house too. Sometimes, when Seth couldn’t be there, I was staying with him, until my boyfriend came home.

“So I’m the second choice again, huh?” Felix said with a smile. “Your boyfriend isn’t there so you’re coming here?”

“Come on Fe’! You know it’s not like that.”

“I know honey, I’m just messing with you.”

He dropped his bag on the floor and joined me on the couch, kissing my forehead in the process. I snuggled into his arms and buried my head into his neck. This was way better than any beer.

“So, I heard that things went crazy with Bert today…”

“What have you heard exactly?” I asked him, wondering if Mandy talked shit behind my back after I left.

“Just that you two were yelling in your office. Nothing new.” Felix said with a smile. “What happened exactly?”

I told my friend everything. I was actually shouting everything because I was still so pissed off at my dad. Felix couldn’t believe that Bert said Patrick was a better man than Seth. I could see in my friend’s eye that he wanted to punch someone in the face. He was so mad because he knew what Patrick was like. Felix was the one who’d been here for me during this whole thing and it pissed him off that my dad wasn’t.

“Wow. I can’t believe he really said that. Are you sure you’re not making that up.”

“I swear Fe’. He said that.”

“Well, at least now he knows the truth. I always thought you should’ve told him sooner…”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything and you know it. Bert just doesn’t care about me, that’s it. He never will.”

“So what now?”

“I told him I was going on vacation for the week.” I simply said, knowing that it might freak out my friend.

I was totally right. The look on Felix’s face was telling me that he was not approving my decision. He assured me that it was what was best for me mentally, but he was still a little bit concerned about work. I was the one coordinating everything and now that I’d left, he was scared of how bad things could turn out. He wasn’t going to say it, but the truth was that he was scared of Mandy. He never liked her and she never liked him so he was scared to be cut off because she would be the one in charge during my absence. No one would be there to protect him during a week and that’s what was scaring him, not the fact that I wouldn’t be there.

“What will you do?” Felix asked me.

“Ugh…. I don’t know.” I let out in a sigh. “If I stay home, I know that my dad will call me every day to convince me that he needs my help and I might end up running back to work.”

“Why won’t you go to Seth’s house? I mean in Davenport.”

“And what am I supposed to do there, all alone?”

“Ali, Seth is in Buffalo right now. You know that every time he’s close to home, he goes back for a couple of days to see his mom and dad. Why won’t you go there and surprise him. I’m sure he’d be thrilled to have you there with him. How many times did he say that he wants to visit his parents with you by his side?”

“He said that?”

“Are you deaf or something? He always says that.”

Well, if he did, he never said it to my face. Why wouldn’t he? Why would he tell Felix that he wanted to visit his family and not me? It didn’t make any sense.

“Maybe he’s scared you’d say no.” Felix said, like he’d read my thoughts.

“Why would I say no? His family is amazing.”

“Maybe because of Catherine. I know she’s not in his family, but she is his sister’s best friend and she lives there.”

“Since when does she live there? I thought she lived here, in Orlando.” I asked, confused. “And when you and Seth became so close?”

It was weird that my best friend seemed to know more about my boyfriend than I did. Felix told me that I’ve been working a lot lately and while I was busting my ass off, the boys were going out together. A part of me was so happy that they were such good friends, but another part of me was sad that I couldn’t be as much with Seth that I wanted too.

“I think you’re right. I should surprise him and go to his house.”

“Check with him to make sure he’s going after his show in Buffalo or you might end up waiting for him for a long time.” Felix said as he got up and went to the kitchen.

I took his advice and immediately reached for my phone to text Seth. I didn’t want him to know that I was planning on joining him so I simply asked him when he’d be home. After I sent him a message, I went to the kitchen with Felix to help him with dinner. I was imposing my presence to him, the least that I could do was to help him. As I was cutting vegetables, my phone rang and a smile lighten up my face.

“Hey babe.” I mewled in the phone, making my friend roll his eyes.

“Hey sweetheart. I’m sorry I couldn’t talk earlier, things are crazy over here.”

“It’s OK, how are you doing?”

“I’m good, but what about you? Are you OK?”

He didn’t need me to say anything, he knew I wasn’t feeling alright. He knew me better than anything. I assured him that everything was alright and that I was just happy to hear his voice, but he wouldn’t buy it.

“What’s up Ali?” he said with his serious tone.

“I just had a very bad day at work. I’ll tell you about it another time. What are you up to? When are you coming home?”

“I’m in Buffalo right now and I was planning on visiting my parents tomorrow…”

“Ooh OK.” I said, happy that my plan would work.

“Do you need me to cancel and come back home?” Seth asked.

“No no no babe. It’s OK. I’m at Felix right now, I’ll be OK.”

He asked me if I was sure and if I needed to talk about my day but I assured him it could wait. I wished him good luck on his show tonight and hung up the phone even though I would’ve loved to talk more with him.

“Looks like I’m going to Davenport.” I told Felix with a big smile on my face.

My friend screamed of joy and hugged me. He told me that after dinner, he’d help me look for a flight and it made me realize that I was so lucky to have him in my life.

 

***

 

As soon as I landed, I called Seth’s sister so that she could come to open the door for me. I didn’t want to wait for him for hours on the porch and I still didn’t have a key to this house. Before I jumped on the plane, I called her first to make sure she was OK with it and Sarah told me that she was very excited to help me surprise her brother. After I thanked her and promised I’d call her to let her know about his reaction, I said goodbye and went inside. The last time I’ve been here was the weekend of the wedding. It was the first time we kissed, the first time we had sex, the time where we agreed on being just fuck buddies and thinking about that made me smile. We had been through so much since that week-end and I couldn’t believe where we were now.

I looked at the clock and smiled. Seth would be home any minute now and I couldn’t wait to see him, to wrap my arms around him and to kiss him. This whole surprise thing was making me nervous but so excited at the same time. I put my luggage on the bed and opened it, smiling. On top of all my clothes, there was a package with a note. I recognized Felix’s handwriting and I had no idea what to expect.

“If that doesn’t surprise him…” I read out loud.

I sighed as I opened the package, scared of what I could find. I held my breath when my eyes caught what it was and my heart started beating faster. It was a lace-red bra with an assorted pair of panties and a beautiful black dressing gown. I couldn’t believe that my best friend would’ve bought me sexy lingerie but at the same time, I was grateful. I never even thought of that myself. I decided to wear it right away, so that Seth could be even more surprised. After I figured out how the bra was working, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and smiled. I thought I was beautiful and I knew my boyfriend would be pleased with me.

A couple of minutes later, I was lying down in the bed, waiting for him to come find me. My heart was pumping a million miles an hour when I heard the front door open. I was so excited and nervous that I couldn’t stop smiling. I couldn’t wait to see his face.

“Wow, I love your place, it’s so nice.” I heard.

It was a girl’s voice that I had never heard before. I froze, not knowing what was really going on as a hundredth thoughts were running through my mind.

“Thanks, I like being here, it’s a very quiet place.” Seth said to the girl. “Wait for me here, I need to get changed and then we can go out.”

I heard footsteps coming toward me and I started panicking. I didn’t want him to see me now. Everything was a blur and I just needed to get out of there. How could I have been so stupid? Why did I not see that coming? As I was putting the dressing gown in a hurry, Seth opened the door and froze when his eyes laid on me.

“Ali?” he said, in shock.

I wanted to surprise him and I could definitely say mission accomplish. Seth looked pretty much surprised.


	30. Chapter 30

Seth and I were staring at each other, both in shock. None of us were talking and it was like someone had pressed pause on our lives. A million things were going through my mind at that exact moment and the first thing that I wanted to know was: who the fuck was that woman in the living room? The second thing was: what the hell was she doing here? I wanted to ask those questions but I was too scared of what the answers might be.

“What are you doing here?” Seth finally said, his voice breaking the silence.

I looked into my boyfriend’s eyes and I could tell that a lot of questions were in his head too. I wanted to say that I was here to surprise him, but he already knew that. All of a sudden, a smile lighten his face and he walked toward me. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and squeezed me hard against his chest as he burst into laughter.

“I’m so happy to see you baby.” he said, leaving me confused.

Was he really happy or was that just a work? Maybe he thought I didn’t know about the girl in the living room and he wanted to act as if everything was normal, but none of it was. Seth cupped my face and hungrily kissed me. I didn’t want to kiss him back, but I did it anyway. It was like my brain wasn’t controlling anything and my heart had taken control of my lips.

“I-I need to go.” I stuttered as I moved away from him.

Seth caught me by the arm as I was going to leave the room. He brought me closer to him and I could see in his face that he was worried about me. He must’ve seen in mine how uncomfortable he made me because he immediately let go of me.

“What’s going on baby?”

“I shouldn’t have come.”

“Why do you say that?” he asked with sadness in his voice. “I’m so happy to see you.”

“Are you?”

“Of course? Why wouldn’t I be? Ali, you’re acting weird… talk to me please.”

I didn’t have to say anything. The women in the living room did it for me. She yelled to Seth to _hurry the fuck up_ and my boyfriend finally understood what was going through my mind.

“It’s not what you think.”

“I don’t think anything.” I simply said as I walked away from him.

“Baby don’t leave. I swear it’s not what you think.” he said as he grabbed my arm once again. “It’s Paige. From work. We traveled together. She’s been in a fight with another girl and didn’t want to travel with her so she asked me. With the guys, we decided to go out and I told them I needed to stop here first to change. That’s why she’s here.”

I looked at him, in shock. I knew he was telling the truth and I was so mad at myself for imagining the worst. I trusted him more than anyone, why did I doubt him? Seth laughed and pulled me closer to him.

“I’m sorry sweetie. If I had known you’d be here I would’ve warned you.”

“I wanted to surprise you…” I let out, relieved that my boyfriend wasn’t a cheating son of a bitch.

“And you did.” he said. “I’m so happy to see you.”

He rubbed my back for a moment while I was burying my face into his chest, ashamed of myself. I could feel my cheeks getting red and I was suddenly happy that Seth couldn’t see me. All of a sudden, he moved away and ran his eyes up and down on me.

“What are you wearing?” he asked with a grin on his face.

I slapped his hand when he tried to take the dressing gown off of me. One of his co-workers was in the living room, waiting for him, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to see what was underneath. We fought for a moment before he finally won and took it off me, exposing my red-lace bra and panties. The lust in his eyes made my heart stopped and I had to remind myself that we were not alone.

“Fuck…” he growled, sending shivers down my spine. “Since when do you wear sexy lingerie?”

“It was part of the surprise.” I said, blushing.

“Felix made you buy that, huh?”

“Worst. He bought it for me.”

Seth burst into laughter as he brought me close to hungrily kissed my lips. After a heated make out session, I pushed him away, reminding him that Paige was waiting for him. He groaned and told me all the things he’d do to me if she wasn’t here.

“You look so fucking hot baby…”

“I know.” I let out, laughing. “But you’re gonna have to put it back in your pants and wait.”

Seth whined but let go of me when he heard Paige shouting to hurry up. He asked me if I wanted to go with them tonight and I agreed. There was no way in hell that I’d stay here, waiting for him and a night out sounded like fun. My boyfriend headed toward his drawer, picked a clean shirt and took off the dirty one he had on him, showing me his amazing tight body. Why the fuck did he have to bring Paige here?

“What do you think you’re doing?” Seth asked as I was about to change back in my clothes.

“I’m not going out like this.”

“No, but you’re going to keep that under your clothes.”

“What?” I asked, surprised. “Why?”

Why would I wear uncomfortable sexy lingerie under my clothes? That was so stupid.

“Because I want to know exactly what’s under there. I want to know what’s waiting for me when we’ll get back home.” he said as he winked to me and left the room.

I whined to myself, but I still did what he wanted me too. I put my jeans back on, did the same with my shirt and looked at my reflection into the mirror. I could see the lace texture through my shirt, but that was too bad. He wanted this, he was going to pay for it. He was going to regret asking me this. I was going to tease him so bad tonight that he’d beg me to go back home.

***

We went to this little underground bar and if I was skeptical at first, I ended up pleasantly surprise. It looked like nothing from the outside, but the inside was cozy and nice with some pool tables and a big bar full of the good stuff. I had the chance to meet up with Paige in the car on our way here. She was a nice girl although I thought she was way too much over my boyfriend. I never really liked that kind of girl, but I found out a little bit later that she was like that with all the men. As soon as Dean and Roman joined us at our table, she was all over them too so I could calm down a bit. I stood up to greet my boyfriend’s best friends. I had already met them a couple of times and I liked them so much, although Dean seemed a little bit weird. He acted like this overprotective brother and kept telling me to be careful with Seth. I could tell that he cared a lot about him but there was no point in telling me to be careful. I had no intention of hurting him. Since the day he said that, things had always been a bit weird between us. Roman, on the other hand, it was a complete different story. He treated me like the little sister he never had. He was overprotective of me instead of Seth and I wouldn’t be surprised to know that he had already told my boyfriend to be careful not to hurt _me_. Bottom line was that both of his friends cared about us, about our relationship and that made me very happy.

“Hey Dean!” I said as I headed toward him to politely kiss his cheek. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” he simply said before he turned to Seth to hug him.

_I’m fine too, thanks for asking,_ I thought to myself.

I turned to Roman and didn’t have the time to do anything that he had already wrapped his big arms around me and lifted me up in a big hug.

“Ro’, I-I can’t… breathe.”

He put me back on my feet as he burst into laughter. At least someone was in a good mood, unlike Dean. We all sat back on our chairs and Paige signaled the barman to come to see us. After we ordered our drinks, the boys started talking about what was up in WWE and even though I should’ve felt left out, I was very intrigued by their conversation. Seth was sitting beside me and was holding my hand. At that very moment, I was happy and nothing in the world could’ve changed that. I could see him looking at me from time to time, with lust in his eyes. He remembered perfectly what I was wearing under my clothes and I could tell that he wanted to go back home as soon as possible. He even asked me at one point during the night if I wanted to leave, but I refused. He deserved to suffer a little bit more for forcing me to wear it.

We played a game of pool with Roman and Paige. Dean was too busy flirting with girls at the bar and he didn’t want anything to do with us right now so screw him. I had no idea what was going on with him tonight but he really seemed to have a problem with me. More than usual I mean.

“What’s up with blondie over there?” I asked Roman as I pointed Dean.

“N-Nothing…” the big man answered.

I had the weird feeling that he was keeping something from me. I stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to break and tell me the truth, but Roman just looked back at me without saying a word.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Don’t worry about him baby girl.” Roman said with a warm smile. “It’s your turn to play.”

I decided to let it go and forget about Dean even though this whole thing was bothering me. I took a sip of my beer before I bent over the pool table to take my shot. I could feel Seth’s eyes on me and it made me smile. I knew my shirt was up and that he could get a glimpse of my beautiful lace panties.

_In your face boyfriend_ , I thought as I took my shot.

I sucked at pool but I loved playing it. Fortunately for me, Paige was pretty good so she didn’t mind the fact that I couldn’t get one damn ball in a pocket. Being on the road and going out in different bars helped her improve her skills as she told me. It wasn’t enough to win against the guys though. They beat us pretty easily in fact, but it had been fun anyway. As Paige and Roman made their way back to the table, I warned my boyfriend that I had to use the restroom. I kissed him on the cheek before I turned my back on him, but Seth had other plans. He grabbed my arm and bring me back closer to him. His lips found mine to give me what was a soft but very romantic kiss. Suddenly, it was just him and me. It was like the world around us had disappeared and I had eyes only for him.

“What did I do to deserve you?” I asked when he finally broke the kiss.

“I could ask you the same thing.” he said with a smile.

He headed toward our table as I headed for the girl’s restroom. I smiled like an idiot as I pushed the door, thinking about how lucky I was to have a man like Seth in my life. I never thought I’d say that, given how our relationship started. After I washed my hand and dried them, I got out of the restroom, ready to get back to my friends.

“Alison?” I heard behind me.

I immediately froze. I would recognize that deep voice anywhere. The kind of voice that I never thought I would hear again. The kind that gave me chills and made me sick to my stomach. I turned around and my heart immediately stopped.

“Patrick…” I let out, trying to act as normal as possible.

He couldn’t know that I was scared of him. I couldn’t let him know how much he was disturbing me. My ex-boyfriend took a step toward me and I had to fight the urge to run away. I could hear Felix’s voice in my head, telling me that I was strong and that Patrick was only a weak son of a bitch and I chose to hold on to my thoughts. I suddenly calm down and stared back into his eyes. I swore I wouldn’t be scared of him anymore. I had a moment of weakness but that was it. I wasn’t scared anymore.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him with my most confident voice.

“I live here now.” he answered me as his eyes ran up and down on me.

“Good for you.”

I turned around and went to leave but Patrick caught my arms and my body immediately tensed up. I escaped his grasp and stared back at him, angry.

“Leave me the fuck alone.”

“Wow. Look at you. All confidant and everything.” he said with a wicked smile on his face. “Did your new boyfriend turned you into that?”

“Shut up Patrick.”

“Or are you still that stupid little bitch that can’t stand up for herself?”

Once again, I went to leave but he moved in front of me so I couldn’t run away. I was getting sick and tired of him. I didn’t want to cause any trouble but if he was looking for a fight, I’d be more than happy to punch his ugly face. I said ugly even though I didn’t really mean that. Patrick was a beautiful man, but what was inside of him was ugly. He hadn’t changed at all since the last time we saw each other. He still had the perfectly placed blond hair and those cold blue eyes that used to give me chills. But not anymore.

“I’m not done with you.” he growled. “You think you’re funny, huh?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your fucking magazine. So now that you’re going out with a famous dude, you think it gives you the right to ruin me? I’m surprised you even let them write all those things about you.”

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I could smell the alcohol in his breath and I knew that he was pretty wasted. I’ve spent nine years of my life with him, I knew the signs.

“Hey asshole, let her go.” I heard behind Patrick.

Seth was standing there, arms crossed and he did not look happy at all. He had never seen Patrick in his life. I’ve never even showed him a picture but something told me that he knew who he was. My boyfriend looked at me and I nodded to let him know that he guessed right. I saw him clenched his fist and my heart started running faster. I didn’t want him to get into trouble. Patrick turned around to face Seth and I took advantage of this to join my boyfriend’s side.

“Or what?” Patrick said, laughing. “You can’t touch me.”

“Why not?”

“You have too much to lose. You can’t risk getting in trouble.”

“You’d be surprised what I’m willing to do for her.” Seth growled as he took a step toward my ex.

I put my hand on Seth’s chest to stop him. I would never let him get into trouble because of me. He looked at me and I could read the anger in his eyes but I still told him to back off. I heard Patrick laugh and I was close to change my mind and unleash my boyfriend on him but I knew it was not the right thing to do.

“You really changed a lot Alison.”

“You haven’t.” I snapped. “Get the fuck out of here and leave me alone.”

“You haven’t heard the last of me. I’m going to sue your dad’s ass for that.”

Without saying anything else, he walked away from us and I was finally able to breathe properly.

“I’m going to kill him.” Seth growled as he was about to go after him.

“Let him go.”

“But Ali, he’s-“

“I know Seth. But he’s not worth getting into trouble ok. You didn’t want me to get into a fight with Catherine, then I don’t want you to fight with him.”

“Baby, it’s not the same thing. That man abused you and he was trying to do it again.”

“I’m ok Seth. Please, just let it go.” I let out in a sigh. “Do you have your phone on you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Patrick said something about the magazine and I have no idea what he’s talking about. I left mine at your house and I need to see what is going on.”

Seth handed me his phone. We were still by the restroom and I had no intention of going back to our table now. It was the quietest place of the bar and I needed this to stay calm. I opened the browser and type the web address of the magazine’s blog.

“Oh. My. Fucking. God.” I whispered, when I saw the last post.


	31. Chapter 31

After I got out of the plane, I jumped on the cab. I tried to call Felix but my best friend wouldn't answer his damn phone. Nobody answered my call and it pissed me off real bad. I was already so mad about what they wrote on the blog and the fact that nobody was there to answer my questions made it worse. I couldn't believe they would do that to me. I couldn't believe my dad approved of that. I sat on the back seat of the cab and told the driver to bring me to the office. I took out my phone out of my bag and looked at the blog again. On the homepage, there was an article entitled: Who is Seth Rollins’ new girlfriend? Next to my name, there was a big picture of me that had been taken three years ago, when I was still with Patrick. I knew Mandy must've been behind it. We were still friends at the time and she was the one that had taken that damn pic. But revealing my name and a picture of me wasn't the worst about the article. There was a whole paragraph about what my life was then. The drinking, the partying and the messed up life I had then. They were portraying me like that freak that I wasn't anymore and nowhere it was mentioned that I wasn't like that anymore. They talked about Patrick and the way he abused me. No wonder why he was pissed at me and threatened to sue my father. This whole thing was a mess and I had to clean it up.

As soon as I saw this, I wanted to jump on a plane to come back home, but Seth stopped me. He said that no one would be at the office at this time of the day and that I should stay the night and go home the next morning. He wanted to come with me but I refused. He was here to see his family, I couldn't let him come with me. He said he would spend the day at his parents’ house and that he would take a plane later to join me during the evening. Unfortunately, the rest of the night was ruined by that damn article. I wasn't in the mood for party and fun anymore but my boyfriend understood. He brought me back to his house where we immediately went to sleep. It was a shame that the sexy lingerie had been a waste but Seth didn't mind. He said there would be plenty of other occasions and he was right. Last night, I also solved Dean's mystery. I was a hundred percent sure that he read the article about me and he must've not been happy to know about my past. I couldn't blame him. I hated myself too.

The cab pulled over in front of the office. I paid the driver, took a deep breath and got out of the car. I tried to stay calm, but I could feel the anger filling up my body. I clenched my fists as I walked toward the front door.

“Hi Ali.” Georges said when he saw me. “I thought you were on vacation.”

“I was. Something came up.” I snapped at him.

Once again, he was paying for my dad's bad decisions. Normally I would apologize, but I was way too mad for this. I walked to Bert's office and opened the door without knocking.

“What the fuck is that on the blog?”

Mandy was sitting in the guest's chair and she jumped when she heard my voice. My dad was looking back at me with widening eyes. He obviously wasn't expecting me this morning. I guess he didn't listen to his voicemails.

“Stay there.” I told Mandy when she stood up to leave. “I'm gonna need to talk to you too, don't you fucking move a muscle.”

She sat back on her chair without saying a word. Apparently, she did listen to her voicemail. She knew I was not in the mood for games.

“I thought you were on vacation.” Bert said, angrily.

“Don’t you dare play that card with me, dad. You’re not the one that gets to be mad here.” I shouted. “Now you tell me why the hell did you guys published that article on the blog.”

“What article?” my dad asked, surprised.

I stared at him with fire in my eyes but he didn’t bat an eyelash. I knew my dad. More than he would ever admit. Even though we didn’t have a good relation anymore, I still could recognize his facial expression. He was genuinely surprised.

“Oh my God.” I let out in a sigh as I turned to look at Mandy. “You posted it without telling him.”

“What?” Mandy said, as if I was delusional.

“What are you talking about Alison?” Bert asked.

I took out my phone out of my back pocket and opened the browser. When my face appeared on the screen, I handed it to my dad so that he could see it for himself. He grabbed the glasses that were hanging in his neck and put them on his nose so that he could read the article.

“You’re going to pay for this, bitch.” I told Mandy, with a smile on my face.

“Bert I can explain…” she started before my dad raised his hand to stop her.

He was reading the article and frowning his eyebrows. I couldn’t wait for him to tell Mandy that what she did was awful and that she was fired. That would make everything so much better. I was willing to forget about all this as long as he kicked her ass out of here.

“I see…” Bert said as he stared at her.

“I had to do it.” Mandy said. “You said it yourself Bert, her relationship with him is bad publicity. I thought that if we wrote an article about her, people would know that her relation with Seth wouldn’t change anything for us. I did what I thought was best for the magazine, I swear.”

“You should’ve come to me first.” Bert told her. “But I agree with you Mandy.”

“Wait what?!” I shouted louder than I wanted too.

I couldn’t believe it. It was a bad dream wasn’t it? Did my dad just said that he agreed with the article? He got to be kidding me. Why the hell would he approve of that? What was said in there was bad. Enough to ruin my reputation for life. I never asked to be portrayed like that and now, thanks to Mandy, everybody was aware of my past. How could he be OK with that?

“You agree but you’re going to delete the article, right?” I asked him.

“No. Mandy is right. People need to know that there’s no conflict of interest here.”

“Dad! Did you even read what she wrote?”

“Yes, I did.” he said as he stared back at me. “Are you telling me that she lied about you?”

“But dad…”

“Everything in there is the truth.” Mandy said to defend herself.

“Shut up!”

“Alison.” Bert said, angrily.

I was about to burst into tears but I would not give them the satisfaction. I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep it all in, but the emotion was raging to get out. My eyes were filled with tears of anger and I forbade myself to let them out.

“It’s what’s best for…”

“Don’t you dare finish that!” I shouted, interrupting him. “I can’t believe you’re taking her side again.”

“It’s not about taking s-.”

“You know what? That’s fine. Don’t delete the article. You won’t have to worry about my relationship with Seth anymore. I quit.”

Both Mandy and my dad looked at me with widening eyes. Both were not expecting me to say this. I didn’t see it coming either to be honest. The words just came out of my mouth, but I knew deep down inside that it was the best thing to do.

“Ali…”

“I quit.” I repeated, as I turned around, ready to leave.

My dad tried to stop me but I escaped his grasp and left his office. Now more than ever, I wished that Patrick was telling the truth about suing him. Maybe he would finally get that what Mandy did wasn’t so good for business. I went to my office and quickly packed my things. As I walked down the hall, I bump into my best friend.

“Hey!” he said, surprised. “What are you doing here? What’s up.”

“Where were you last night?”

I tried to join him but he wouldn’t pick up. I was so mad at him but I tried to keep calm. I knew none of this wasn’t his fault but I needed a friend last night and he wasn’t there for me.

“I went out on a date. I came back late.” Felix said. “What’s going up? I thought you’d spend the week in Davenport.”

“Have you seen the blog?

“No.”

I showed him my phone. Felix looked at me with widen eyes and his mouth was open in shock. It was good to know that someone other than me was offended by that. It was good to finally have some support.

“Bert thinks Mandy did the right thing by writing this.” I told Felix. “Oh and just so you know, I don’t work here anymore.”

“What? He fucking fired you?”

“No. I told him I was quitting.”

“Ali!” he said, in shock. “Are you sure about this?”

“Never been more sure about anything. I can’t take this anymore Fe’. If my own father can’t respect me as a person, I have nothing to do here. I’m sick of busting my ass for him. I’m done with this place.”

“Are you going home?” Felix asked me. “Maybe I can finish early today.”

“I’m going to Seth’s. He’s coming back tonight. I need some alone time.”

I thanked him for everything and kissed his cheek before I made my way to the front door. My heart sting a bit as I thought it would be the last time I’d be here, but I knew it was for the best. I needed a fresh start.

***

I spent the night stating at the ceiling in Seth’s room. My room I should say. He hated when I called his place _his_ home. He told me that I was living there too and that I should call it my home too. After I left the office, I immediately came here. I knew Seth wouldn’t be here until later in the evening and that was fine by me. I needed silence. I needed to be alone. I needed to spend time with my thoughts for a bit. What I did was bad. I didn’t have a job anymore and I couldn’t stop thinking that maybe I was a little bit too hard on them. But then, I went back to the blog and saw that the article had not been deleting and I changed my mind completely. I did the right thing. It was best for me and it was best for my dad. I couldn’t help thinking that from now on, I’d have absolutely no relationship with him. The only time we spent together was at work and now that I wouldn’t be there anymore, I would not see my dad for a long time. Deep down inside, it hurt like a bitch but I knew that in the end, it was the best thing to do. He was never really there for me anyway. A single tear fell down on my cheek and as I wiped it, I promise myself it would be the only one. My dad didn’t deserve it.

Two hours later, I heard the front door open. I was confused as fuck and after a moment I understood that I had fallen asleep. A smile lighten up my face when I heard my boyfriend’s voice calling for me. Now that I had my alone time, all I needed was to spend the rest of the night in his arms. I needed him to rub my back and tell me that everything was going to be alright.

“Hey baby.” he said as he entered the bedroom. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Have you talked to your dad?”

Seth took place on the bed and I snuggled into his chest.

“Yeah.”

“How did it go?”

“Not good.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“I quit my job.”

Seth squeezed me closer and rubbed my back, just like I needed. His warmth made me feel so much better and I wouldn’t trade anything for that moment. I wanted it to last. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted the ability to stop time.

“How was your day?” I asked to change the subject.

“It was OK.”

I didn’t have to look to him to know that something was wrong. The way he answered my question was weird and I knew he was keeping something from me. I moved away from him to take a good look at him and what I saw in his face confirmed what I was thinking.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Seth. Don’t lie to me. I know something’s wrong.”

He stayed silent for a moment and it made me even more worried. He never kept anything from me until now and a part of me started to freak out a little bit.

“I got a call from Hunter today.” he finally let out. “He saw the article about you and he was not pleased. At all.”

“What did he say?”

“He doesn’t like when his guys are associated with trouble. Especially his champ.”

“Are you kidding me?” I snapped.

I didn’t mean to but I couldn’t hold it in. I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me. That stupid article was literally ruining my life. I wasn’t like that anymore, but Seth’s boss didn’t know it. He didn’t know anything about me. In fact, the only info he had on me was what could be read on the magazine’s blog. And now that my dad decided not to delete it, social media was going crazy about Seth’s new girlfriend. The whole world thought I was a messed up troubled girl when I was not at all.

“It was just a warning.” Seth explained to calm me down. “I told him you were not like that but…”

“He didn’t believe you.”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say with him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it baby. It’s not a big deal.”

He smiled at me but I couldn’t smile back to him. I was so sad and pissed off at the same time. Seth wrapped his arms around me and brought me closer to him. He repeated that it was not a big deal and that I shouldn’t worry about that, but I just couldn’t help it.

“It’s not your fault.” he said as he rubbed my back. “Everything will be alright.”

I chose to believe him.


	32. Chapter 32

I barely slept last night. All that had happened in the last few days kept coming back to my mind and I couldn’t find peace even though Seth was lying next to me. I tried to melt in his embrace, but I had this tension in my whole body and I couldn’t relax at all. I thought about the article, about my dad, about what Seth’s boss told him. The latter was the worst. I couldn’t believe they were actually worried about all this. They didn’t even know me for Christ’s sake, why were they judging? After I thought about it for almost an hour, I finally came to the conclusion that they couldn’t care less about me. All that mattered to them was that Seth’s personal life didn’t bring as much attention on him and that stupid article ruined everything. I felt so bad but there was nothing that could be done. I already tried to have it deleted but it didn’t work.

I felt Seth move by my side and I knew he was slowly waking up. He laid his arms over my stomach and he closed the distance between us by moving closer to me. I smiled as I put my hand on his arm to gently brush it with my thumb.

“Stop worrying.” he let out with a sleepy voice.

“I’m not...”

“Did you even get some sleep?”                               

“Not really.”

Seth opened his eyes and looked at me with a concerned face. I couldn’t let him be worried about me. I wanted to tell him that everything was OK but I knew he would never believe me. He knew me better than anyone. A simple look in my eyes and he would immediately know that this whole thing was getting to me way more than it should. I knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to be his official girlfriend, but I never thought it’d be that bad. Everyone was talking about me and I never ask for this. I just wanted to be left alone and live a happy life with the man I loved. Was that too much to ask?

“We have nothing to eat.” I told Seth as I moved away from him. “I’m gonna go get something at the coffee shop down the street.”

“I can go if you want to sleep a bit…”

“I can’t sleep so I might as well make myself useful. You want anything in particular?”

“I’ll have what you’re taking.”

I quickly dressed up and leaned on him to kiss him goodbye before I made my way out of the bedroom. I grabbed my bag that was in the living room and search for my keys. After I finally found them on the kitchen table, I left the house and headed to the coffee shop. It was still pretty early in the morning so the streets were pretty quiet and it was exactly what I needed. The coffee shop’s parking was nearly empty and I thought for a second that maybe they were still closed. I heaved a sigh of relief when a customer opened the door to leave. He politely kept it open for me and I shyly thanked him before I made my way inside. I went to the counter and ordered two coffees and some croissant. I sat at one of the tables while I was waiting for my order. The coffee shop was almost empty but I could feel the stare of the few people that were here. I jumped when my phone rang and I immediately answered, scared it might bring others’ attention on me.

“Hey Fe’.” I said when I answered.

“Bert is coming to see you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Bert called me and asked where you were. I told him you were still sleeping but he didn’t believe me. He knows you’re not staying with me and he asked for Seth’s address.” Felix explained, almost out of breath.

“Tell me you didn’t...”

“Of course I did!” he said, interrupting me.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

I didn’t want my dad to know where Seth lived. I wasn’t in the mood to see him and I wanted to be left alone. I couldn’t believe Felix would simply tell him where he could find me.

“Do you really think I had a choice Ali?” Felix shouted. “He threatened me! He told me I’d lose my job if I refused to give him the information. Maybe you can afford to quit your job but I can’t!”

Felix was mad and so was I. I couldn’t believe he’d say something like that. I knew what he was implying by saying that I could afford to quit my job and it pissed me off. Seth never asked me for any money since we live together. He always paid for everything. I hated the fact that my friend would think that I didn’t need a job simply because my boyfriend was kind of rich. I was about to lose it but then I calm down, because I knew he didn’t really mean it. He was stressed because of my dad and I could totally understand that.

“I’m sorry.” he finally said when he noticed that I wasn’t talking anymore. “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“It’s fine. I should be the one apologizing.”

The girl at the counter signaled me that my order was complete. I grabbed the bag she gave me and thanked her with a smile.

“Have a good day.” she said, politely.

“Where are you?” Felix asked me when he heard her.

“I’m at the coffee shop.”

“With Seth?”

“No. Seth stayed in bed.”

“Then you better hurry the fuck up because your dad is on his way to his house and you do not want them to be alone.”

Felix was right. I knew my boyfriend and I knew how he hated my dad. I told him pretty much everything about my relationship with him and the more and more I was telling Seth about Bert, the more and more he was getting mad. The last thing I needed right now was a confrontation between these two. Who knew what my dad could write in his magazine to make Seth pay.

***

I barged into the house, trying to catch my breath. I ran as fast as I could but it wasn’t that easy with croissants and coffee in both hands. As soon as I spotted my dad’s car in the street, I knew I was already too late but I still tried to make it as fast as possible. When I finally step foot inside the house, my heart immediately stopped beating. It was already too late. I couldn’t see either one of them but I could hear them pretty clearly. Although I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I could definitely hear them yell at each other. Seth’s voice was the one I heard first. I’ve rarely seen him mad since we were together so to hear him shout like that made it memorable.

“Seth?” I yelled, hoping it would break their argument, but it didn’t.

Both of them were still yelling at each other and they didn’t seem to have noticed that I was back. I put down the croissants on the living room’s table and walked to the kitchen, coffees in hand. The food could wait but the coffee couldn’t. I needed it to confront my dad and I’m pretty sure my boyfriend needed it too.

“It’s your fucking daughter for Christ’s sakes!” I heard Seth shout.

“This doesn’t concern you in any way!” my dad responded.

I took a deep breath and enter the kitchen. The look on Seth’s face broke my heart. He was fighting for me and I loved him for that, but he didn’t deserve any of this. My dad had no right to be there and I was about to let him know.

“Stop it.” I said, loud enough to make them jump.

They were so caught up in whatever was going on between them and I knew for sure that neither of them noticed that I was back.

“He has no right being here.” Seth shouted at me.

He was beyond pissed, but I knew he wasn’t mad at me. I put my hand on his arm to let him know that he was right and that I was going to make this right but when I was about to say something, my dad replied and the war started again.

“I have every right to talk to my daughter!”

“Oh she’s your daughter now?”

“Shut up!” I shouted. “Both of you!”

“Ali, he can’t…” Seth started.

“I know. I’m sorry. If I had known he was going to show up, I would’ve stayed at Felix’s place.”

I gave my boyfriend his coffee and took a big sip of mine. The liquid was burning down my throat but I didn’t care, I needed this more than anything. I told Seth that I had left the breakfast in the living room, encouraging him to leave me alone with my dad.

“Like I said, this doesn’t concern you.” my dad said as Seth was leaving the kitchen.

“What are you doing here?” I said before my boyfriend could reply.

“Aren’t you going to offer me coffee or anything?”

“No.” I simply said. “Tell me what you’re doing here now or I swear to God…”

“Relax Alison. No need to swear… I came in peace.” he said as he looked down.

“Oh really?” I asked, surprised. “That didn’t sound like peace.”

He apologized for the way he treated Seth but I knew he didn’t really mean it. I could’ve fought with him but I didn’t want to. All I wanted was for him to finally tell him what was the point of his early morning visit.  

“I warned you about this, Alison. I told you nothing good would come out of a relationship with that man. I asked you to stay away from him to protect you.”

“To protect me? You’re the one that started all this shit about me. Before you wrote that article, everything was fine but now, everybody is talking about me on social media like I am the worst bitch the world has ever seen.”

“I did not write that article.”

“You agreed to it. As far as I’m concerned, you’re as guilty as Mandy.”

“I deleted it this morning.”

I looked at him in shock. He told me that he had been thinking a lot about it and that he was sorry for everything that had happened. He kept apologizing and I was speechless. My dad never said sorry for anything in his life. He would always say that every one of his actions was always justified even though they turned out to be wrong.

“Say something…” he said, after a few second of complete silence.

I stared into his eyes and burst into laughter. I couldn’t control it. Blame it on the nerve or the lack of sleep, but I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Oh my God.” I said as I snorted. “You want me to say thank you? You actually want me to thank you for deleting the article. It’s too fucking late for that.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I don’t buy it. What are you really here for?”

“I need you to come back to the office. We need you.”

“Now I’m the one that is sorry. I won’t go back there and you know it. Mandy has been waiting for this day for a long time. She can perfectly do my job.”

“I don’t want her to do it, I want you. You are the best and I can afford to lose you.”

“Sorry Bert, you should’ve realized that a lot sooner. There’s no way I’m going back.”

For the first time in his life, he looked genuinely sad and I had to fight the urge to hug him. I had to remind myself that the person in front of me was not my dad. Not anymore. I wanted to tell him that not only he’d lost me as an employee, but he had also lost me as his daughter, but the look on his face told me that he already knew that.

“If you need a letter of recommendation, I could write one for you.” he finally said after a moment. “If it can help you to find another job.”

“I don’t need your help, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Alright.” he said as he made his way to the front door.

“Oh and by the way…” I started as he was going to leave. “Don’t you ever show your face here again.”

He nodded and left the house without saying anything else. I turned and looked at Seth. He was sitting on the couch and the TV was on but I could tell that he wasn’t watching it. He heard the entire conversation between Bert and me. I slowly made my way to him and let myself fall next to him. As soon as he wrapped his arm around me, I started crying. I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. All those years, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry for my dad. That he didn’t deserve it. But now that he wasn’t my dad anymore, I guess I couldn’t finally let them out.


	33. Chapter 33

Two months had passed since I quit my job and I was still looking for another one. I had been to many places for interviews but none of them were successful. My resume was pretty good but still, nobody seemed to want me as their employee. When I asked them the reason why, they would all come up with some fucked up reason that didn’t make sense. Fortunately for me, my boyfriend was very supportive and he didn’t care if I wasn’t working. I cared though. The first two weeks felt great. I loved staying home to finally take care of myself, something I never really had the chance to do while I was working for my dad. After those two weeks of freedom, I started to feel lonely and time wasn’t passing by as quickly as it usually did. I was getting sick and tired of Seth’s house but I had nothing better to do. Felix was working more and more since I quit and a part of me knew that it was my fault. It didn’t seem to bother him since he was making a lot more money, but I still felt bad. I felt like Bert was making him pay for my decision. Surprisingly, my best friend told me that Bert had nothing to do with it and that it was Mandy who was asking him to work harder. I hated her even more than I already did. She must be so thrilled to do my job and use her new power over the other employee. Since I had been promoted a couple of years ago, she’d been a real pain in the ass about it, saying that she would do a better job than me. Although I wanted everything to go fine because Felix was still working there, a part of me wanted her to screw everything up. I wanted my dad to finally see that Mandy wasn’t as good as he thought she was. I knew he’d miss me a lot as an employee, but I wanted him to miss me even more. I wanted him to tell Mandy that I was doing a better job than her.

I was slowly crawling out of the bed, trying to convince myself that I had to go to this interview. I was tired of staying home but a part of me became so lazy. I was always sleeping and it was getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning. I even stopped training, which was a very bad thing. The less I moved, the more I was getting tired and I was stuck in this infinite circle. I was fucked up. I wish Seth was here more often so that I wouldn’t feel like crap every day. When he was around me, he reminded me of what I was before all this shit and it made me feel great. The storm on social media hadn’t slow down at all. People were still talking about Seth’s girlfriend but now, they were implying things that had never happened. That was one of the reasons why I wouldn’t go outside the house so much. I didn’t want people looking at me like I was a crazy person. I was getting tired of these four walls but at least I was safe in there.

I made my way to the bathroom and started the shower. I normally turn the handle to have the hottest water possible, but this morning, I needed something to wake me up. After I had taken all my clothes off, I jumped into it and shivered. I hated cold water and I regretted my decision instantly. I was tempted to turn the temperature up, but I knew that I would end up in a very steamy room and that I would want to go back to bed. It wasn’t an option. I had to go to this interview, even though all the previous one didn’t go well at all. After the shower, I dried my hair and put on my most beautiful and serious suit. It wasn’t really my style but when I worked for my dad, I was forced to wear those kinds of clothes so I had plenty of them now. After eating something really quickly, I grabbed my bag, my phone and my keys and headed outside. As I was walking to my car, I received a text message from Seth. He wanted to wish me good luck and that made me the happiest person on earth. I needed his positivity in my life. He knew how hard it was for me to be rejected from all those places but he kept sending me good vibes even though he wasn’t with me and I loved him for that.

***

I parked my car in the underground parking of this really huge building. Never in my life have I been in those kinds of places. Before I worked for my dad, I used to have small jobs in small places. This building was so intimidating that I was tempted to go back home and let this one go, but then I reminded myself that I couldn’t waste that opportunity. As I was walking to the elevator, I came across a panel indicating what was on each of the floors. I heaved a sigh of relief when I realize that the magazine where I was going to be interviewed occupy only a tiny bit of this huge building. That helped me calm down a bit as I walked into the cabin and pushed the fifteenth floor button.

When the door opened, I was immediately greeted by this little blond girl that was way too charismatic for this time in the morning. I smiled back at her as I made my way to her desk.

“What can I do for you?” she asked with a high pitch voice.

“I-I have an appointment with Madison Peterson.” I said a bit shyly.

“You’re Alison?”

“Yes. I’m a bit early…”

“Don’t worry, that’s way better than being late. I’m going to ask you to wait here for a moment.” she said as she pointed me a big chair where I could sit down.

I put my bag on the floor and sat comfortably on it, thinking that I could get use to this place. It was very beautiful, simple and elegant and I liked the general vibe of it. Yes, the girl at the reception was a bit annoying, but I could handle her. I’ve handled Mandy all those years, I could handle pretty much anything at this point. A tall lady got out of her office to speak with the blond girl and she turned around to look at me. She greeted me with a beautiful smile but a few second later, that smile disappeared. I started to wonder if I had something weird on my face for her to look at me like that but before I could do anything, she walked toward me and offered me her hand.

“Good morning Alison. I’m Madison.”

“Good morning.” I said as I shook her hand. “Thanks for having me.”

“Come with me dear.”

I followed her in her office. As I was walking near the reception desk, the blonde girl looked at me with a big smile. I could swear that I heard her whispering good luck. She was definitely way better than Mandy.

***

An hour later, I was still sitting in Madison’s office. She asked me all kinds of questions about me, about how I was as an employee, what I liked and didn’t like. She talked a lot about her too, but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t very comfortable during interviews so the less I had to talk, the better it was for me. Everything was going very well until…

“Your face is very familiar, have we met before?”

“N-No, I don’t think so.” I stuttered.

“Where did you say you were working?” she said as she looked into my resume.

Crap. I had no choice but to write about my job at my dad’s magazine because I had worked there for so many years and it looked good on my resume, but with the drama and everything, I hated to tell people about it. These days, I was known as the fucked-up former journalist who had a relationship with a famous wrestler. If Madison ended up being aware of what people were saying about me, my chances were dead.

“Oh yeah, I see.” she said, as she continued to look at my resume.

I hated the look on her face. I could see all the judgment. Who knew Madison Peterson was the kind of lady that loved gossip? Turned out she was. She looked back at me with a smile. A fake one. I didn’t know her very much but I could definitely say that there was nothing real there.

“We have other people to see but we’ll call you if we need your service.”

“OK…”

It was the only thing that I could say. I knew that I was definitely crossed off her list of potential employees. My stomach started to ache as I stood up to leave. I briefly shook her hand and left without saying anything else. What was the point anyway? As I passed near the reception desk, I forced myself not to look at the girl. She was genuinely nice but I couldn’t handle it. We were never going to see each other anyway. When I reached the parking floor, I barged out of the elevator and quickly walked to my car. My stomach was aching more and more and I suddenly realized why. All those interviews that went so wrong… it was because of that stupid article. I thought that if I was trying to get a job in magazines that had nothing to do with sports or wrestling, I would be safe but apparently, this world was a small one. Social media was very good at screwing a person’s reputation. They didn’t have to be fans of wrestling to know about the rumors. They just had to type my freaking name in Google and then they would read a bunch of stuff about me that wasn’t even true. I opened my car’s door and threw my bag on the passenger seat. I was so pissed off that I had to take a minute to calm down before driving. My phone rang and when I saw Felix’s number on the screen, I swore, rejected the call and threw it on the backseat. I was not ready to admit that I couldn’t find a job because I was a messed-up person and I was even beginning to think that maybe I really was..

***

For the first time since Seth and I started dating, I was kind of glad that he wasn’t home. I wasn’t in the mood for talking. I just wanted to be let alone in my own misery. After I dropped my bag on the living room’s floor, I made my way to the fridge and reached for a beer. I looked at it for a few second and put it back in. I needed something stronger. I grabbed the bottle of wine that was on the kitchen counter and opened it. I poured myself a big glass and took a big sip. That was what I needed to feel better. I didn’t mind if it was ten in the morning, I needed it. Five minutes later, my glass was empty and I filled it with more wine before I made my way on the couch. I spent the morning thinking about how miserable I was and the more I drank, the more I sounded stupid.

“Maybe Patrick was right after all.” I said to myself, out loud. “I am a failure. I’m stupid. I’m not good enough.”

I finished my glass of wine and realized I had drank the whole bottle.

“Patrick is an asshole.” I said.

I was having a battle with my own self. I wondered which side of me would win this war. The one that thought my abusive ex-boyfriend was right all along or the part that knew he was an asshole and that I was just having a really bad day. I didn’t have time to make up my mind that my phone rang. I knew from the ring tone that it was Seth. I was tempted to let it go to voicemail, but he would know immediately that something was wrong. I was the one that asked him to call me as soon as possible. When I asked him that, I had no idea how bad this interview was going to be.

“Hi baby.” I said, trying not to sound too drunk.

Because I was. After that whole bottle of wine in less than an hour, I was definitely wasted, which made me feel even worse. I really was messed-up.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Fine. W-what about you?”

“I’m good. How was the interview?”

I wished he would’ve asked something else. Why did my boyfriend had to be so caring? I had to remind myself that it was what I loved about him.

“It went well.” I lied.

“Really?”

“Yeah! She said that she had others to see but that she was keeping my name and phone number very close. I think she loved me very much. I wouldn’t be surprised if she calls me back tomorrow to offer me the job.”

“Oh Ali! I’m so happy for you!” Seth screamed in the phone.

His happiness made me feel a lot worse than I already was. Why did I lie to him? That wasn’t like me at all. I just wasn’t ready to explain to my boyfriend that our relationship was ruining my reputation. It would make him feel so bad and I didn’t want that to happen. He wasn’t supposed to be home for a couple more days anyway so I could tell him the truth then.

“Yeah, that’s amazing.” I said, trying to sound as happy as he was.

“I’m glad to hear this babe. You have no idea how you’ve just made my day.”

“You’re that happy?”

“Yes… especially because I had a crappy day so to hear this makes things a lot better.”

“What’s going on?”

“It can wait. I don’t want to bother you. Why aren’t you celebrating with Felix?” he asked.

“Because Felix is working at that time of day. I’ll catch up with him later.” I lied. “But what’s up?”

“I really don’t want to ruin…”

“Seth. Tell me what’s going on.” I said, interrupting him.

“Alright… but promise me it won’t ruin your day.”

As if my day could get any worse. After being looked at like I was the Evil Queen in person, what could happen? Without promising anything, I just asked him to spit it out.

“They want to take the championship away from me.”

“What?! Why?”

I didn’t know why I even bothered asking. I knew why. It was all because of me, once again. I was wrong. My day could get worse. Way worse.


	34. Chapter 34

“Are you sure about this?”

I looked up at Felix and sighed. I was sitting at his kitchen table, waiting for him to do what I came here for. My best friend was looking back at me with concern all over his face.

“I didn’t come here to ask for your opinion.” I told him, trying to stay calm. “Just do it.”

He looked back at his computer and hesitated.

 “Ali… If I post this, there’s no going back.”

“I know.”

I spent the night thinking about this and there was no other option. I had to come up with an idea to prevent Seth from losing the championship. After I had talked to him last night, I couldn’t find sleep at all. My boyfriend told me how he regretted telling me about this, saying that he didn’t want to ruin my good mood. I didn’t have the courage to tell him that my mood was already pretty messed up when he called. I looked back at Felix but he still hadn’t posted the article that I wanted him to post.

“Just post the damn thing Felix.”

“Alright! Alright!” he said as he pressed the send button.

The earth stood still for a moment. It was done. I thought it would untie the knot that had been forming in my stomach, but it just tightened it. I sighed and wondered if it was a sigh of relief or not. I wasn’t sure about anything anymore but I knew deep down that it was what had to be done.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked as he laid his hand on my thigh.

“No.” I simply said as I stood up. “I’m exhausted… I’m going to lie down for a moment.”

“Do you want to eat something first? It’s almost two and I know you well enough to know that you haven’t eaten shit since you woke up this morning.”

“Actually, I couldn’t have woken up since I haven’t slept at all last night.”

“Are you sure you don’t want…”

“Fe’… Please.” I let out in a sigh. “All I need right now is some sleep.”

“Fine.” he said as he looked down.

I knew he was just trying to be a good friend right now, but I needed to get to bed as soon as possible. My head was hurting like a bitch and I could’ve blamed it on that bottle of wine I drank to myself last night, but I knew it wasn’t that. I was just so exhausted that I could barely stand up by myself. After I thanked my best friend for his concern, I walked to my room. Fortunately for me, Felix had chosen a house with three bedrooms and allowed me to take the one I wanted. As I was walking down the hall, I used the wall to keep me balanced. As soon as I reached my bed, I let myself fall on it without even bothering to take my clothes off. Never in my life I have fallen asleep that fast.

***

I woke up seven hours later. It was so dark that I thought for a second that it was the middle of the night but a look at the alarm clock on the night table told me it was nine. I was still very tired and was about to get back to sleep when I heard voices coming from Felix’s living room. What I thought to be a normal conversation turned out to be something else completely. All I could hear was yelling, but I couldn’t understand a word of what that person was saying. I knew exactly what was going on and a part of me just wanted to go back to sleep. I wasn’t ready to face this situation. Not right now. Even though I didn’t want to get out of my bedroom, I did it anyway. As I was making my way to the living room, I could hear the conversation more clearly.

“Why would you do that Felix, huh?”

Seth was facing my best friend and all I could see was his back. I couldn’t see Felix’s face but I knew him well enough to know what it looked like. Seth was clearly pissed and he was yelling at him.

“Answer me!” he snapped. “Why would you write that on the magazine’s blog for Christ’s sake?”

“Because I asked him to.” I said, making Seth jump.

He turned around and the look on his face almost killed me. I was not ready for this. Not yet. The silence that filled the room was suffocating and I wanted to run away as far as possible but I couldn’t. I had to face the reality and God knew I wasn’t ready for that.

“What do you mean _you asked him to_?” Seth asked, confused.

“I’m going to leave you…” Felix started as he walked away.

Seth stopped him with his hand.

“I’m not done with you yet.” he growled.

“Let him go. It has nothing to do with him.”

“Oh you mean that he’s not the one that posted…”

“Seth please.” I begged him.

He sighed and got his hand off of my best friend. Felix gave me a concern look but I assured him that everything would be just fine. He pressed my arms and whispered that he was going to be outside if I needed anything. Once he was out the door, the silence between Seth and I was even more unbearable.

“So, you’re going to explain to me what the hell is going on here?” he said as he raised his hand in the air in desperation. “Why the fuck would you asked your best friend to write an article about our break-up?”

“He didn’t write that…” I started.

“I know. You did. But I still don’t get it Ali.”

“I had no choice. We had to do something...”

“About what? Please explain yourself because I have no clue why you would do such a thing.”

He wasn’t mad anymore. He seemed simply lost and that hurt even more. I didn’t want things to go that way. I never meant to hurt him.

“They were threatening to take the championship away from you.” I said, as if it would justify everything.

“So you thought that by writing an article about us breaking up would do the trick and that they would change their mind? Is that it?”

I couldn’t speak. I was speechless and even if I wanted to say something, I didn’t know where to start. When Seth’s gaze caught mine, I looked down. I couldn’t face him. Not now. I was way too exhausted for that.

“Wait a minute.” he said after a moment. “It’s not a trick, huh?”

“Seth.”

“You’re breaking up with me?”

“It’s not that simple.”

He burst into laughter. Not the funny kind though. He was back to being pissed. Did I really think this conversation would go smoothly? Why was I so stupid? Of course he wouldn’t just agree to this. But he had to understand that it was the only way.

“I can’t believe it.” he said.

“I had no other choice.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? No other choice? What have I even done to you to deserve this Ali?”

“They were threatening you Seth and I…”

“You WHAT?” he yelled, making me jump. “Since when do you get to decide what’s best for me huh? I don’t care about the fucking championship do you understand me?!”

“That thing means the world to you…”

“YOU mean the world to me, Alison. Not that belt.” he yelled again.

Once again, I was speechless. Not because of what he just said though. I knew he loved me a lot, but I also knew how he felt about his job. I knew how hard he worked for it and I sure wasn’t going to be the one standing in the way.

“I can’t even find a DAMN job Seth.” I yelled back at him. “Since we are together, it’s like the whole world is against us. What am I supposed to do here, huh? Watch you ruin what you love most while I’m waiting for you back home with nothing to do because people think I’m a freak. You’ve read all those rumors. You know what they are all saying about me.”

“What are you talking about? You told me the interview went well yesterday.”

“I lied! It was probably the worst day of my life so I did what I thought was best OK? Can’t you see that I’m trying to do the right thing here? I didn’t want you to find it this way. I wanted to tell you in person.”

“Yeah, maybe you should’ve thought about that before posting the damn thing. How was I supposed to react when my colleagues came to ask me about the recent break-up, huh?”

“I’m sorry Seth…” I said as I looked down.

“So that’s it? We’re done? Just like that?”

“It’s for the best.”

Seth nodded but didn’t add anything else. He rubbed his head and sighed heavily but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth anymore. Maybe he was just trying to keep it together.

“I’ve seen people get dumped over the phone or by text message, but I’ve never seen someone getting dumped in an article.”

“I’m…”

“Yeah I know. You’re sorry. You’ve said that already.”

I could see tears in his beautiful brown eyes and I knew he was fighting not to let them out. My heart hurt so much that it made me dizzy. I spent the whole night thinking about this and now it was done. We were over. I knew it was for the best but there was still a part of me that didn’t want it to end. I loved him. So much. I wanted him to know that but I couldn’t say it. After what I did to him, I couldn’t just say that I loved him. He would’ve never believe me and I couldn’t blame him for that. I reached for my bag that was still on the floor and grabbed my keys. I had to fight the urge to cry as I was taking his key to give it back to him.

“Here.” I said as I handed him the key to his house.

He looked at it for a moment, without saying anything.

“Keep it. You’re going to need it if you want to come back to pack up your things.”

“I-I already did.”

This morning, after I decided that I was going to do this, I cleaned up the house and took everything that was mine and packed it in my car. I knew that once it’d be done, I couldn’t go back there. It would hurt too much.

“Wow.” Seth said as he took the key. “You really think this whole thing through, haven’t you?”

He didn’t let me say anything else that he was already heading to the front door. I followed him, not because I wanted to make sure he was really leaving but because I didn’t want him to go.

“Remember when you told me that I had no idea what it was like to love more than the other?” he asked without turning around. “Now I know.”

And with that being said, he opened the door and left. I stood there, in silence, waiting to wake up from that bad dream. When Felix came back in the house, I realized that all this was true and that it was all my fault. I burst into tears and within seconds, my best friend wrapped his arms around me and brought me closer to him.

“I-I had n-no c-choice Fe’.” I sobbed in his chest.

“I know honey. I know.”


	35. Chapter 35

I was dreaming of unbelievable stuff when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t want to wake up but the shaking became persistent and I had no other choice but to crack an eye open. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the lighting in the room before they finally laid on the person who woke me up. I groaned when I saw Felix and turned around.

“You’re going to be late for work, honey.” he said as he gently pat my back.

I groaned again and looked at the clock on the night table. It was eight in the morning and I had to be at work for 8:30. I still had plenty of time to get ready. I had taken a shower the night before so I just had to dress and brush my teeth and I would be all ready to go.

“I’m pretty sure your new boss would not be pleased if you’re late.”

“She doesn’t really care and just so you know, my alarm was supposed to go off in five minutes.” I said as I disappeared under the blankets. “You’ve ripped me off of five more minutes of deep sleep.”

“It’ll give you more time to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You should still eat.”

“I never eat in the morning, you know that.” I said as I got out of bed.

The room was cold and I had to fight the urge to jump back in the warm bed. Felix didn’t give me the chance though and he immediately made my bed for me, like he had known what I was thinking. I sighed and went to the closet where all my clothes were hanging, thanks to my best friend. After I moved back with him, I had trouble settling in. All my stuff stayed in my boxes and I couldn’t find the energy to unpack everything. One day, Felix decided that enough was enough and he unpacked all my things without asking me. I was shocked and frustrated at first, but I knew he did it to help me and it did.

“You were eating before…”

“I said I’m not hungry.” I said, interrupting him.

I knew way too well what he meant but I didn’t need him to remind me. Felix gave me his most beautiful smile and I couldn’t help but to return it. Things were great. I still had my moments of sadness and frustration, but most of the time, everything just felt right. I was blessed to have him in my life and I wouldn’t exchange him for anyone else. After I chose the outfit I was going to wear to work, I kissed his forehead and wished him a good day. As I was heading outside, I heard him whine something about how I should stop by the coffee shop to grab something to eat but I didn’t care. I really wasn’t hungry.

***

I was sitting at my desk, typing on the keyboard like a mad woman. I was working on my third article of the day and everything was going great. I loved my new job. I was scared at first, since it had been a long time that I hadn’t written anything, but it came back to me very quickly. I realized that it was way easier to write some articles for a blog than being the one in charge of deadline for my dad’s magazine. My stomach started to growl and I looked at the clock. It was 1 p.m. and I still haven’t eaten anything yet. I tried to convince myself that I could wait a little longer. I wanted to finish that article first. I hated it when I needed to stop my work in the middle.

“What are you still doing here?”

I jumped and looked at my office’s door. Elena, my boss, was standing there, with her arms crossed. Her beautiful blond hair was tied up in a high bun and she was wearing a peach dress with a trendy little black coat. She looked classy as always and I would kill to have her long thin legs.  I looked back at her with a smile.

“It’s lunch time.” she said with a grumpy voice. “You need to stop working and eat something.”

“Yeah, I know. I just wanted to finish this…”

“It can wait. Take your break now. It’s an order.”

I laughed and so did she. She wasn’t that old but there was a part of her that reminded me of my mother. It had nothing to do with the way she looked, but the way she acted. Since I started working for her, she immediately made me feel comfortable. I had the feeling that we’ve known each other forever.

“Alright mom.” I said, joking. “I’m gonna go grab something at the canteen downstairs. You want anything?”

She told me she wanted me to bring her coffee before she went back to her own office. I grabbed my bag, made sure my wallet was inside it and headed to the elevator. It wasn’t a big building where I worked, but there was still enough offices that they thought a canteen would be a great idea. I couldn’t agree more. The food was good, less expensive than any restaurant in the area and I didn’t have the burden to make myself a lunch every morning. Another great thing about it was that I could tell Felix I was eating there so he would lay off my back with this whole ‘you need to eat’ thing. Once I arrived downstairs, I walked to the canteen and chose myself a simple sandwich. I wasn’t that hungry but I had to go back up with something to eat or Elena would say something.

“Is that it?” the boy asked me.

“I’ll take a coffee, please.” I told him. “Two creams, no sugar.”

I paid what I owed him and thanked him before I made my way back upstairs. I could’ve eaten here since there was a lot of tables, but I’d rather be in my office and continue my work on that article I was working on, even though Elena wouldn’t approve. Lunch break was really important for her and she always insisted that I’d take all the time I had to relax before going back to work. I didn’t want to though. I hated being alone with my thoughts these days and I needed to keep my mind occupied. I needed to work.

“There you go.” I said as I put her coffee on her desk.

“Good, I see that you actually got something to eat.”

“Yeah I did. Those sandwiches are the bombs.”

“I know right. This canteen is the best thing on earth.” she added with a smile.

“If it’s OK with you, I’m gonna go back to my office to eat it.”

“To continue working while eating?”

“Yeah…”

I was scared that she would close her office door and locked me inside with her to make sure that I take my break, but she didn’t.

“Is it OK with you?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure. No problem.” she responded with a smile. “Especially since there’s a hottie waiting for you in your office.”

“What?”

“Tall, brown hair, gorgeous…. Ring a bell?”

Felix. Of course he would show up today. He was probably waiting for me with tons and tons of food. I’m sure he was waiting for me, with a fork in his hand, ready to feed me by force. I was more than proud to show him my sandwich. Maybe he will believe me from now on when I say that I really did eat at work.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but Felix doesn’t play in your team.” I told Elena when I noticed her dreamy eyes.

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “Wow, I couldn’t have told… too bad. That man is very hot.”

I laughed and waved her goodbye before I headed to my own office. I was planning on working during the lunch break, but a moment with my best friend sounded a lot better. I wanted to show him my place of work for a while now, but our schedules was so different that we barely found time to be together.

“Look who’s here to check up on me.” I said as I walked into my office.

My chair turned around and I immediately froze when I saw who was sitting in it. It wasn’t Felix. It was Seth. My heart stopped beating for a moment and I had to hold on pretty hard on my sandwich not to drop it on the floor. I looked behind me and then looked back at him, fighting the urge to run away. I hadn’t seen him since that day at Felix’s house. I wasn’t planning on seeing him ever again, but here he was.

“W-what are you doing here?” I managed to say without stuttering too much.

He said he needed to see me. I couldn’t stop looking at him. His hair were tied in a bun and his eyes were hypnotizing me. I almost forgot how beautiful he was. Seth stood up and my heart started beating faster.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

Should I ask him how was he? I already knew things were great for him. Not that I checked… but… OK I checked. For a few weeks after I told him we were over, I kept watching wrestling to make sure that they wouldn’t take the championship away from him. It would have been a disaster if I would have done that and he would have lost it anyway. The silence between us was uncomfortable and I didn’t know what to do, or what to say. He was the one who showed up here after all so why wasn’t he telling me why he was here?

“I’m glad you found a job.” he finally let out.

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

That silence again. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to yell at him to get the fuck out, but there was a part of me that couldn’t. I put my sandwich on my desk and put my bag on the floor near the cabinet. Seth moved away from my chair and went to look outside the window.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again.

He didn’t say anything. I sat on my chair and opened my laptop to continue my work. If he wasn’t going to say anything, just too bad for him. I wasn’t going to let him screw up my day of work. Seth was still looking outside in silence. I checked my phone and found a message from Felix. He was warning me that my ex-boyfriend was on his way to my office. I wondered how he found me. Now I knew.

“Seth, I have a ton of work to do so say something or leave…”

“My mom is dying.” he let out without looking back at me.

My heart stopped beating again. I turned around to look at him but he was just standing there, without saying anything else.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, shocked. “I didn’t know your mom was sick…I…”

“I didn’t know either.” he said, interrupting me. “My dad called me yesterday to tell me that she was in the hospital. She has cancer.”

“Seth… I-I’m so sorry…”

“Me too.” he said as he finally turned around to face me. “They found out about the cancer a few months ago, but they didn’t want to tell me. ‘Not yet’, my dad said. They were running some tests and she was supposed to have another year in front of her but apparently they suck at prediction.”

“Are you going to see her?”

“Yes. I’m leaving tonight.”

I nodded. I was speechless. His mom was such a lovely woman and I thought to myself that it was unfair that she was sick. There were a lot of bad people out there in the world, but the best always had to go first. It didn’t make any sense and that kind of unfairness was pissing me off.

“I want you to come with me.” he added.

“What?”

I couldn’t believe that he was asking me to go with him. Now I knew the reason why he was standing in my office. I didn’t know what to do or what to say.

“Seth… I-I can’t…”

“I can’t do this alone Ali…”

“What about Roman… or Dean?” I asked. “Can’t they go with you?”

“I get time off from work but they can’t.”

“Seth… I can’t just leave in the middle of the week like that…I have a new job. I have responsibilities.”

“Please… I don’t want to do this on my own.”

I caught his gaze and I shouldn’t have done that. The sadness in his eyes broke my heart and I had to fight the urge to hug him. He was begging me with those chocolate orbs of his but I shook my head. I finally got my life in order, I couldn’t just screw up everything to fly to Iowa.

“Alright… I get it.” he finally said as he looked down. “I’m sorry for bothering you, it won’t happen again.”

He headed to the door with his hands in his pockets. My head was telling me to let him leave but my heart was screaming not to.

“Seth wait.” I let out without thinking. “Let me see what I can do.”

He walked back to my desk and put something on it. I recognized a plane ticket and sighed. He had already bought me a ticket without knowing if I was going to say yes.

“Thanks.” he said.

“I said I was going to see what I could do. I don’t know if I can leave work yet.”

He didn’t say anything else and left my office. I grabbed my head with my hands and sighed heavily. I looked at the sandwich on my desk and I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. I took it and tossed it in the trash. I laid my head on my desk and close my eyes for a moment.

“Hey, are you OK?” Elena asked as she entered my office.

“Yeah…” I lied.

“What’s going on?”

“The guy that just left…”

“The hottie?”

“Yeah… He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

“I thought you said he was gay?” she asked.

“When you said tall, brown hair and gorgeous, I thought it was my best friend Felix.”

 “So what did you ex wanted?”

“His mom is dying and he wants me to go with him in Iowa to visit her.”

“Oh.”

I told her everything there was to know about Seth, from the beginning to the end. She looked at me without interrupting. There were a lot of things to say about us and our relationship.

“Do you want to go?”

“I-I don’t know.” I said as I threw my hands in the air. “I love his mom to death, of course I want to see her and I don’t want him to be alone. I was alone when my mom died and I know how hard it is.”

“Then what are you still doing here?” Elena asked me.

“I can’t just leave like that! I have responsibilities here. I can’t let you down.”

“Sweetie, I’ve been doing this job alone for three years. You’ve been here for a couple of months. I can live without you for a couple of days.” she said with a smile. “Go with him. I swear I’ll be fine. Bring your laptop with you and if there’s anything, you could work from there.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded and hugged me. I didn’t expect that from her but I hugged her back. I suddenly felt a lot lighter. I’ve been working for her for a couple of months and she was showing me more kindness than my own dad ever did. After Elena left my office, I called my best friend.

“Hey honey… I’m sorry about…” he immediately said when he picked up.

“We’ll talk about it another time. I need a favor.”

As I was grabbing my bag and my coat, I asked Felix to prepare my luggage. I had a flight to catch for Iowa and I didn’t want to miss it.


	36. Chapter 36

The ride in the cab that brought me to the airport was the longest I ever had. I was so stressed up about this whole ‘going to Davenport with Seth’ thing and a part of me felt bad. I should’ve been worried about his mom that was sick, but instead, I was freaking out about being stuck in a plane with my ex-boyfriend. I couldn’t believe how selfish I was but again, I couldn’t help it. After Elena told me that I could go, I immediately went back home to grab the luggage that Felix set up for me. On my way back to my best friend’s place, I called a cab to make sure that I didn’t lose any seconds. It already took me so long to make up my mind about this and I couldn’t afford to miss that plane. Although it would’ve been better for my own good, I couldn’t let him down like that. Things ended up very weirdly between us, thanks to me, but he didn’t deserve this. I just had to remember what it was like to deal with death alone and I knew I had to be by his side, even if I would’ve loved for someone else to take my place. I was tempted to call Roman to make sure that he couldn’t be there for his friend but in the end I didn’t. I knew Seth didn’t lie when he said his brothers couldn’t be there for him. I knew it must’ve taken everything for him to come to see me and ask me to go with him.

I finally arrived to the airport after being stuck in traffic. I was beginning to be scared of not making it in time. When I passed the glass doors, I found myself stuck in a long line at the registration desks. I tried to spot Seth somewhere, but he must’ve already registered. I was the one being late, he was surely there on time. I looked at my phone and saw that the plane was scheduled to leave in forty minutes. You are supposed to be at the airport about three hours before your flight, but by the time I had finally made my decision, I was already past those three hours. I prayed for that waiting line to go faster and someone, somewhere, must’ve heard me because all of a sudden, it was my turn. After I gave the girl everything she needed, I went to the big waiting room. I looked everywhere for Seth when my eyes finally caught his. His face lightened up when he saw me and his smile confirmed me that I made the right choice by coming. He needed me and I was here for him, no matter what had happened between us. I was his friend before I was his girlfriend, it was time for me to remember that. Even though I was finally convincing myself that everything was going to be alright, it still felt terribly weird when he hugged me.

“I’m glad you came.” he said.

“Sorry I’m a bit short on time.” I simply said, patting his back.

I didn’t know what else to do. When he finally let go of me, I gave him my best smile, hoping he wouldn’t notice how uncomfortable I was. I looked back at the clock and was glad to know that we only have twenty more minute of awkwardness before getting on that plane.

“I’m gonna grab something to eat, you want anything?” I said as I pointed the restaurant near our seats.

“No thanks, I’m not hungry.”

That’s when I realized that Seth wasn’t feeling good at all. That man was always hungry. When we were living together, he was always the first in the kitchen to prepare breakfast, dinner or late night snack. He would even get up during the night sometimes to eat. Always healthy stuff though. Or should I say mostly? Thinking about our time together hurt a lot more than I thought it would. These past few weeks, I thought I was finally passed this but apparently, it was still too fresh. As I was waiting in line to get something to eat, I risked a look at Seth. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking how beautiful he was, even though he looked sad. Gladly for me, he was on the phone and didn’t notice that I was staring at him. The women behind me reminded me that I was there to order food when she gently tapped my shoulder to ask me to move forward. I took my eyes off of Seth and apologized to her.

After I ordered myself some fries, I went back to my seat, where my luggage and Seth were waiting for me. I sat next to him, trying to be as quiet as possible. I didn’t want to disturb him during his phone call. As he was talking, I could hear a girl’s voice on the other side of the line. Maybe I should’ve been surprised, but I wasn’t. I already knew that Seth was seeing someone else. Not that I checked, but apparently my best friend thought it would be a good thing to know. He showed me that tweet where it showed a picture of him and a blonde girl. People were saying that she was his new girlfriend, but I knew better than to believe social media assholes. After all the lies and rumors those people said about me, I knew damn well not to believe anything there was on the internet. And even if she was his girlfriend, I didn’t mind. Was I jealous? Not really. Maybe a little bit. But I was the one who left him, he had every right to go on with his life. I wanted him to be happy. There was still a part of me that hoped that the girl on the phone wasn’t the one Felix showed me. She looked way too superficial for Seth.

Seth finally put an end to the call, telling her that he would call her later. I waited and listened to see if he was going to say those three little words but he didn’t. As he hung up, I offered him my fries. Maybe the sight of food would bring his hunger back but unfortunately it didn’t. Apparently, it just made him uncomfortable. Or maybe it was that phone call. Maybe he didn’t want me to know he was seeing someone else. Thinking about all this made me uncomfortable too and I thanked God when they announced that we needed to get on our plane.

***

We arrived at Seth’s house a couple of hours later. The flight was long and uncomfortable. At least I could pretend to be asleep so I wouldn’t have to deal with the awkwardness between us while Seth was watching Fight Club on his iPad. My heart stung a bit when I remember the night in California, when he left Felix’s party to hang out with me in my room. We watched that movie until we both fell asleep in my bed. It was our first night together and I remembered being nervous as fuck that day.

As soon as we landed, we went straight to the hospital to see his mom, but we were told that the visiting hours were over. Nobody wanted to let him go just to check up on her. He tried and tried but they wouldn’t let him go. We bumped into Seth’s dad in a hallway. He was on his way back to the room, but he told his son he would call him back in the morning since the visiting hours were over. They fought a bit and I had to agree that I was with Seth on this one. It was so stupid. They could’ve made an exception. It was not like someone would see him, the hospital was nearly empty at that time of day. I tried again by asking his dad if he could convince one of the nurses to let him go but he said no. I hoped we could see her today. I didn’t want to spend too much time away from work. I hoped I could take a plane the next day to go back home. When Seth understood that there was no way he would be seeing his mom until the next morning, he finally said goodbye to his dad and we left.

I insisted on staying to the hotel but unfortunately, there was nothing left for the night. I should’ve asked Felix to get me a room while I was on my way to the airport. Seth said that he didn’t mind if I stayed in the guest room, but I did. As soon as I stepped foot into his house, memories of our life together got back to me. I remembered the first time I got here, when I had to explain to his sister that I was just a friend. The night of the wedding, when we had sex for the first time. I remembered our talk the next morning, about being fuck buddies. It wasn’t that long ago but it seemed to me like it happened years ago.

“Are you hungry?” Seth asked me as he put his luggage in the living room.

“No not really.” I answered. “Actually I think I’m gonna go to bed.”

Since I never really slept in the plane, I was exhausted from the traveling. Even if it wasn’t that late, I was burned.

“You need any help with this?” he said as he pointed my luggage.

“No thanks, I’m fine.”

I smiled and told him good-night before I made my way to the guest room.

***

I woke up in the middle of the night, mouth dry and a little loss. It took me a couple of seconds to remember that I was in the guest room of Seth’s house in Davenport. For one moment, I thought I had dreamt all this. Seth surprise visit in my office, his mom being sick, him asking me to go visit her with him, the airport and the hospital. Then my eyes laid on my luggage that was open on the bedroom floor and I knew it wasn’t a dream. After Seth and I were over, he haunted my nights for weeks. Sometimes the dreams were nice, but sometimes I found myself waking up crying because I missed him. I finally got better those last few weeks, but being here with him was hard. I wished things weren’t that weird. Why couldn’t we just be friends like we were before? Seth once said that after what happened the night of the wedding, we couldn’t just go back to where we were and I never really understood until now.

I woke up and walked to the bathroom. My mouth felt as if I’ve been eating sands during my sleep. It was so disgusting that I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I needed to drink something. The bathroom was closer to the bedroom than the kitchen and I knew for a fact that Seth always kept a glass near the sink. I growled when I opened the light and immediately closed my eyes. It was so bright that I couldn’t let them open. I blindly walked to the counter, and reached for that glass. I cracked an eye open to turn the cold water on and let it flow for a bit. I drank the whole glass like I had never drank water in my life and heave a sigh of relief when I was done. I put back the glass on the counter and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I was wearing a pair of black shorts with a Seth Rollins shirt.

_Note to self: Kill Felix when I’ll get home,_ I thought.

When I asked my best friend to pack an old t-shirt for the night, I never thought he would pack this particular shirt. I thought it was a joke but when I emptied the content of my luggage, I understood that it wasn’t. There was no other ‘old shirt’.

When I made my way back to the guest room, I passed in front of Seth’s and heard something. I immediately stopped and listened, thinking that I was crazy. He probably just snored or something since it was three in the morning. There was no way he was still awake. I heard the noise again and risked a look inside. All I could see was Seth’s shadow. He was sitting on the side of the bed, his back facing me, his head in his hand.

“Seth?”

He didn’t answer. I heard him take a deep breath and saw that his shoulders were shaky. Was he crying? I couldn’t see his face at all but I swore that he was.

“Seth, what’s going on?” I asked again as I slowly walked into the room.

He snorted and I could see him shaking his head from side to side. I wanted to go to the other side of the bed to see his face, but I was frozen and couldn’t move any further. I had never seen him like this. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable and thought I could simply go back to my room.

“My dad just called.” Seth said with a shaky voice. “She’s dead.”

He started sobbing like a baby and my heart broke into pieces. There was nothing in the world that I could’ve said that would’ve made him stop. I did the only thing I could think of. I kneeled on the bed and wrapped my arms around him, pressing my chest against his back to hold him close and shared his tears.

“My mom’s dead.”

He kept saying that over and over again while I was gently rocking him back and forth to soothe him. After a moment, he stopped crying and I made him lie on his side without letting go of him. Tonight, I was going to be the big spoon. He needed me to be. Seth tangled his fingers with mine as I was telling him that everything would be fine. I wished I had something better to say, but it was all that I could do. I wished someone would have done that when my mom died. I was not leaving him tonight. I was there for him just like he asked me to be.


	37. Chapter 37

I slowly woke up the next morning. I was under the blankets and I didn’t remember getting there. I must’ve been cold during the night and wrapped myself in it to warm me up. I slowly reached for Seth with my hand but found his place empty. My eyes burned when I opened them. He wasn’t the only one that cried last night. Seeing him like this literally broke my heart. He was normally so strong and I had never seen him like this. I tried my best to comfort him, but since I was crying as much as he was, it was hard. I couldn’t even speak last night and honestly there was nothing to say. It was so unfair that he didn’t get to see his mom before she passed away. I knew what I was talking about. I didn’t get to say goodbye to mine when she died. It was the hardest part of the grieving process. Thinking that you couldn’t be there for one last smile, one last hug and one last kiss. Seeing Seth go through the same thing made me think about my mother’s death. After all those years, it hurt just as much as the day it happened.

It was a Friday night and my dad had to work late, which wasn’t a recurrent thing at the time. He was way more committed to his family than he was today. Since he couldn’t pick up my mother from work, she had to take the bus to come back home. When she walked across the street, she got hit by a car. We learned a few days later that the driver was texting and didn’t see the red light. She died a few hours later at the hospital but I didn’t get to see her. As soon as the police called my dad to tell him about the accident, he immediately left work to go see her. He was in shock and so worried about her that he didn’t think of picking me up at home first. It wouldn’t have changed a thing anyway because she passed away just before he arrived.

I remembered crying all night long after he had told me what happened. My dad had retreated to his room and barely left it for a week, leaving me to grieve on my own. I couldn’t even call Felix, since he was on a trip with his family. I had been through hell for a whole week, all alone, crying my mother’s death. When my best friend finally came back and learned what had happened, he swore to me that he was never leaving again. He stopped traveling with his family and never left my side. After that day, my dad became a workaholic. It was the only way he wouldn’t think of her. He could barely look at me in the beginning because I looked so much like her. Thinking about all this made me sad and a single tear dropped down my cheek. I quickly wiped it off when I heard Seth coming.

“Hey” I said when he entered the bedroom.

“Hey.”

He cried so much last night that his voice was huskier than usual. He would’ve looked awful if only it was possible. His eyes were red and there were dark circles under them, but he still looked beautiful. I wanted to ask him how he was feeling but I didn’t know whether I should do it or not.

“There’s bread in the kitchen if you want anything to eat.” he said as he put his phone on the night table beside me. “Sorry but I don’t have time to cook…”

He went to the dresser and it seemed like he was in a hurry.

“It’s alright.” I simply said, my voice as husky as his.

“I’m gonna jump in the shower real quick.” he said as he threw clothes on the bed. “If my dad call, could you tell him that I’ll call him back later?”

Without even looking at me, he grabbed his pants and his shirt and headed outside the bedroom.

“Slow down.” I said as I caught his wrist to stop him from leaving. “Take it easy for a second.”

I knew how he was trying to keep his mind off of the reality. I’d been in the same situation. I knew what it was to constantly do something so that you wouldn’t think about what had just happened. I knew exactly what he was feeling and I was not going to let him deal with this by himself. Seth escaped my grasp and finally laid his eyes on me.

“I’m fine Ali.” he simply said, with a mix of sadness and anger in his face.

“Are you?”

“I’m sorry about last night.”

“Sorry about what?” I asked, confused.

“I had a bit of a breakdown, but I’m OK now.”

“Seth… that wasn’t a breakdown. It was a totally normal reaction, don’t apologize for that…”

_Your mom just passed away for Christ’s sake,_ I wanted to add.

His eyes soften a little as he sat on the bed, next to me. We sat there in silence for a few seconds before he finally said something.

“Alright, maybe it was a normal reaction for you, but not for me. But I swear I’m gonna be OK, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m in a hurry because my dad is waiting for me for the reading of my mom’s will and…”

“That soon?” I asked, interrupting him.

“Yes.” he said with a small smile. “That’s actually a wish of hers. She wanted it to be over as soon as possible so that we could move on with our lives. She doesn’t… didn’t want us to grieve for months. My parents fought about that all the time. My dad didn’t want to do it as quick as she asked, but she kept repeating that it was her last wish. Short funeral, not many people and then we move on.”

“It actually makes sense.” I said, thinking about how long it was before my mom’s funeral.

“So my dad called me this morning and told me that we could do it today. That’s why I need to jump in the shower as fast as possible so that I’m not late.” he said as he stood up.

“Oh… OK.” I said, still a little bit worried about him.

“So if he calls, please tell him that I’m almost ready and that I will call him back OK?”

I nodded and he smiled before he left the room. It wasn’t his best one, but I knew he was trying. He didn’t want me to be worried but I couldn’t help it. Maybe I wouldn’t have been if I had not been in the same situation years ago. I had to remind myself that Seth was a lot stronger than me. Deep down inside of me, I knew that he would be alright, but I was still glad that he wanted me to be here. Just thinking about him having to deal with this on his own made my heart ache. A few moments after Seth had left the room, I finally got out of bed and made it. After that, I went to the guest room to do the same. As I was pulling the blankets up, I heard Seth’s phone ring. I ran back to his bedroom as fast as I could, scared I would miss the call. On the screen, it was written private number. I didn’t take any chances and answered, in case it was his dad trying to reach him.

“Hello?” I said after I pressed the green button.

Nobody talked. I’ve said hello two or three more times but no one answered me. I looked back at Seth phone and it was back to the home screen, which confirmed that the call had really ended. It took me too long to get there and the person that was calling must’ve hung up when she realized no one was picking up. My heart stung a bit when my eyes laid on the wallpaper he had. It was an old picture of Seth, Felix and I, back when we were all friends. It had been taken the night that we decided to get wasted by going to the most bar we could in one evening. We weren’t dating at the time. Hell I hadn’t even considerate sleeping with the guy back then. Thinking about how good we were as best friends made me sad. Why the hell couldn’t we just go back to that point? The phone rang again, making me jump. It was still the private number but this time, I answered immediately.

“Hello?”

“Hi…” I heard.

A girl’s voice. None of us talked for a few seconds, both wondering who the other was.

“May I speak with Seth please?” she finally said.

“He’s a busy right now, can he call you back in a few minutes?”

“It’s alright. I’ll wait.”

“And who should he call back?” I asked, curious to know if it was the girl social media talked about.

“Oh no, I meant I’ll wait on the line until he’s available.”

“Hum OK… I’m putting you on hold. He’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

I pressed the right button and looked at the phone for a moment. That girl was weird. I couldn’t believe that she was willing to wait on the line, even though she had no idea how long it could be before Seth actually picked up the phone. Although, there was a part of me that couldn’t blame her. If she was the girl that he was seeing, she must’ve thought it was weird that another girl answered. My stomach growled and I suddenly realized how hungry I was. I grabbed Seth phone and headed to the kitchen, where I put a slice of bread in the toaster. I pour myself a cup of coffee and groaned when I took my first sip. It was hot as hell, but I needed it so bad and Seth’s coffee always tasted so good. It had nothing to do with the brand Felix always bought. I tried to convince my best friend to change so that we could have the same as Seth, but he kept saying that his was less expensive. He was right, but it was also less tasty.

“Did my dad called?” Seth asked as he entered the kitchen.

He was putting on his shirt, which gave me time to see his naked chest. His hair was wet, falling on his shoulder, water dripping on him and I couldn’t help but to bite my lips. Why did he have to be that hot?

“No.” I said, happy that I didn’t stutter. “But there’s someone waiting for you on the line.”

I gave him his phone and he looked at me, frowning his eyebrows. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was weird. He briefly shrugged before his eyes went down on me and a small smile lighten up his face.

“Wondered where that was.” he simply said.

I looked down and my heart started beating a little bit faster. I totally forgot that I was still wearing his shirt. It wasn’t just any Seth Rollins shirt. It was literally his shirt. Since I used it as a pajama back when we were together, I accidentally packed it when I moved out of his house and I never had the guts to give it back. Before I could say anything else, Seth left with his phone, leaving me all alone with my red cheeks.


	38. Chapter 38

After Seth left the kitchen, I grabbed my toasts and put them in a plate. They were cold just like I liked them. I absolutely hated when my peanut butter melted everywhere so I took the habit of leaving them to cool down. I know… I’m a weird person. But that’s how I loved it. I took a bite in one of the slices and smiled. They were perfect. The bread was so crunchy that every bite resonated and made it hard for me to listen to what Seth was saying to that girl on the phone. Not that I was trying to listen. OK, I was totally trying to spy on him, but I’d call it curiosity. I didn't care at all, but I was a curious person and I wanted to know who she was. I walked closer to the living room so that I could get a glimpse at the conversation, but I still couldn’t hear shit. Seth was talking so low, making it harder for me to understand any word that came out of his mouth. My heart jumped in my chest when I heard him say goodbye and I ran to the counter as quickly as possible. There was no way in hell that I was going to let him know that I was trying to listen to his conversation with another chick. Why was I even trying to do that anyway?

“Sorry about that.” he said as he entered the kitchen.

“Never mind.”

Seth’s face made me realize that I had said that in a very harsh way. It didn’t sound good at all. I was trying to look detached from this whole ‘a girl is calling you’ thing, but I failed miserably. I totally sounded like the jealous girlfriend and that was not my intention.

“I mean… you don’t have to apologize…” I added with a softer voice. “You don’t owe me anything.”

I thought this would do the trick, but apparently it didn’t work. My ex-boyfriend was still giving me the look and it made me more and more uncomfortable. I took another bite of my toast so that I can shut my damn mouth. My mom taught me it was impolite to speak with your mouth full, so now I had a real reason to shut the fuck up. Seth let out a sharp laugh and it grinded my gears more than I expected.

“What?” I let out.

“Go ahead, ask me.”

“Ask you what?”

“I know you’re dying to know who that girl on the phone was.”

I wanted to punch his cocky smile off of his face. I had not seen that side of him in forever. He was back to being the asshole he was when I first met him and I forgot how annoying that man could be.

“Aren’t you going to ask?” he added.

I hated that he could still read in me like an open book. He knew me better than anyone. Of course I wanted to know who that girl was, who wouldn’t? Every damn girl in the world wants to know who the new chick in town is.

“No.” I said with a harsh tone.

“Fine.”

He turned around and made his way to the refrigerator. The way he said that made me think he was mad and I had no idea why. This whole situation was so weird and I was sick of it. I was the one supposed to be mad, so why was he acting like that? He spent a few minutes looking at his food inside the fridge and the silence between us was unbearable. He finally grabbed and turned around to face me.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “You want me to act like the jealous ex-girlfriend?”

“No.” he said with a sharp laugh.

“Good. ‘Cause I’m not going to.” I added. “Anyway, I already know who she is.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, she’s that girl on your Instagram pics, isn’t she?”

A smile lightened up his face and it made it even harder to follow. One second he was mad, the next he was smiling.

“Someone’s been spying on my Instagram…”

“Yeah. Felix.” I said to clear things up. “Not me.”

My best friend was always stalking up other people Instagram and he would always barge into my room to show me their pics. Especially when it came to Seth. I made it pretty clear to Felix that Seth’s life didn’t concern me anymore and that he could do whatever pleased him, but deep down inside, I cared a lot more than I wanted. I acted like I didn’t care about that chick in the pics, but then I would always go back and look at the pictures when my best friend had his back turned.

“Yeah… Felix.” Seth let out.

“Yeah. Felix.” I stated, annoyed.

Seth nodded. I couldn’t tell if he believed me, but in my mind, that would end that stupid conversation. His phone rang and I was glad it did. I could tell that Seth wasn’t done with me but at least that phone call would distract him from me. It was his dad. For a second, I felt bad. With all this stupidity, I almost forgot what had happened and I felt sad for Seth. He just lost his mom and here we were, fighting about something that wasn’t important at all. Maybe that’s what he needed though. To take his mind off of it for a second. After he hung up the phone, Seth turned to me.

“I have to go.” he said.

I nodded, not knowing exactly what to say. He reached for his wallet in his back pocket, took one of his credit cards and threw it on the table. I looked at it for a second before meeting his beautiful brown eyes.

“Use this to book your flight back home.” he said as he pointed the card. “I’m sorry you came here for nothing.”

“Seth…”

“I’m glad you were here Ali, but it’s over now. There’s nothing more you could do. I don’t want you to miss too much time at your new job. I need to go meet my dad for the arrangement. Take this card and take the next plane.”

He smiled at me but I could tell it was fake. He knew me better than anyone but I also knew him very well. I didn’t know what else to say so I nodded and picked up the card. He nodded too and without saying another word, he left.

***

I was staring at the flights on my computer and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what was going on with me, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to leave Seth on his own. I didn’t want him to be alone, but at the same time, I couldn’t stay. He needed someone to go through this. He needed a friend and I couldn’t be one. This whole thing earlier made me realize that Seth and I couldn’t just be friends. Not after what we’ve been through. I couldn’t stand the fact that there was another girl in his life and I had no idea why. It was not like I had the intention of winning him back. I knew it couldn’t work out between us. After everything that happened, it was obvious that life didn’t want us together. We weren’t meant for each other obviously. But it didn’t change the fact that I cared about him and that was why I couldn’t just leave like that. I had to do something so I grabbed my phone and did the only I could think of.

“Hello.”

I did not expect to hear that voice.

“Hey Dean… Is Roman there?”

“He’s driving.”

He stopped talking. The silence between us was so intense that I thought he might have hung up the phone until I heard Roman ask who it was.

“Seth’s previous chick.”

I tried to stay calm and nice but I wanted to yell at him. Since the very beginning, that dude had a problem with me and I never understood why. Now that Seth and I weren’t together anymore, he should’ve been happy right? Well, he was even more of a dick than he ever was.

“Put me on speaker.” I said, sharply.

It wasn’t a request. It was definitely an order. I was not in the mood to play Dean’s game and I needed to talk to Roman.

“It’s about Seth.”

“It’s always about Seth.” he replied.

“Put me on the damn speaker phone Dean!”

“Put her on speaker.” Roman said in the background.

Dean mumbled something but thankfully he did what I asked. In fact, he probably did it because his friend asked him to. He couldn’t say no to Roman. I wanted to thank the big man for ordering his stupid friend to do as I said but I didn’t want to piss Dean off even more.

“So what about Seth?” Dean asked before Roman could say anything.

I could say what I wanted about this lunatic but I couldn’t deny the fact that he cared about Seth. The two of them were like brothers and Dean had always been protective of him.

“How’s his mom?” Roman asked, making my heart break into pieces.

“It’s… It’s over.” I stuttered, trying to hold the tears in. “She’s gone.”

The guys stayed quiet, making it harder to keep my composure. A single tear fell down my cheek and I quickly wiped it off. I was not going to break down again.

“Listen…” I said after a while. “I need to go back home but I don’t want Seth to be alone. He’s going through so much and I can’t just leave him…”

“So nice of you.”

“Shut up Dean.” Roman said before I could.

“Do you guys think you can come over?” I asked, ignoring Dean’s shitty comment. “I know you’re on the road, but…”

“We’ll come. We have a show in buffalo in two days and we can come after.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. Two days was better than nothing. Seth would be fine for two little day’s right? I wished they could come over sooner, but I knew I couldn’t ask.

“Thanks Roman.”

I said my goodbyes and hung up the phone as I heard the front door open. Seth was back and I was glad he didn’t hear my conversation with his friends. I didn’t want him to know that I had called them to the rescue. He would argue about the fact that he was alright, that he didn’t need anybody. Then I would yell at him that he couldn’t stay alone and we would fight over another stupid thing. Seth walked pass the living room without looking at me. He didn’t even say a word and went directly to his room. I decided to leave him alone for a while and continue to look at the flights, but I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing. I was distractedly scrolling down without really looking, thinking about Seth and wondering if I should go check up on him.

“Fuck it.” I mumbled as I stood up.

I went to his room and found his door closed. I stood in front of it during a few seconds before I finally decided to knock.

“What?” I heard.

I slowly opened the door and tried to mentally prepare myself for what was about to happen. I had no idea how he would be. Was he still mad at me? How did the meeting go? Was he still crying?

“Hey…” I said.

“Hey.”

“You OK?”

He was lying face down on his bed with his eyes closed. He looked exhausted and I couldn’t blame him. I was too.

“Yeah I’m fine.” he said without looking at me. “I thought you’d be gone. Did you book your flight?”

“Not yet… I wanted to…”

“Book it Ali.”

“Are you gonna be…”

“I’m gonna be just fine. Go back home.”

And with that being said, he turned his head away from me. That conversation was over.


	39. Chapter 39

I was sitting in the room, all by myself, surrounded by dozens of persons I had never seen in my life. Some were crying, others had sympathies written all over their faces and there were a few smiles here and there. Some were hugging, others were shaking hands and all that, in a beautiful quiet environment. Some of them hadn’t seen each other in years. It’s sad to think that a funeral reunited people given the circumstances. I spotted Seth a little further in the small room and my heart ache when I saw his sister in his arms, in tears. Two days had passed since I decided to stay with him until this was all over. I couldn’t go back home. I didn’t want to. Not only because I thought he wasn’t going to be alright but because I wanted to be here. As I was seconds away from booking my damn flight, Seth had come out of his room and told me the funeral would be two days later. I was surprised about how fast it was, but it was his mother’s last wish. It didn’t take me a long time to make the decision to stay. Seth and I fought. He said he didn’t want me there but that didn’t mean he wanted me gone. He wanted me to go on with my life and forget that I even came in Davenport but I couldn’t do that. Even though we weren’t together anymore, what kind of person would I have been to let him down like that? I knew his friends would make it in time for the funeral and that he wouldn’t have been alone, but I still wanted to stay. I knew his mother and I wanted to be there to say goodbye too. She had been so kind to me, so that was the least I could do. I owed her. After all, I broke his son’s heart.

I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally spotted familiar faces. I stood up and walked to Roman and Dean that had just entered the room. The big Samoan’s face lighted up when he saw me and he immediately opened his arms to hug me. I wrapped mine around him as much as I could and buried my face in his chest. It was so good to see him. It had been way too long. When Seth and I were still together, we used to see Roman a lot and I hadn’t seen him once since the break-up.

“How is he doing?” he asked me as he stared at Seth.

“I think he’s holding up.”

I moved away from the big man and turned around to face the other third of the inseparable trio. Dean stared back at me with his frozen blue eyes and I had to fight the urge not to punch his face.

“Hi Dean.” I said, politely.

He mumbled something that I couldn’t hear and decided to let it go. I was not going to pick a fight with him. I knew it wasn’t the place but for once in his life, I wish he could act like a mature person. When Seth and I were still together, Dean was not my biggest fan but he wasn’t that bad with me. At least he looked at me then. Now it was like he’d died if he dared look into my eyes. Well, maybe he was right because I was beyond furious. With everything that happened, he could at least make some kind of effort instead of playing his little stupid game.

“I’m gonna go see Seth and Sarah.” Dean said as he walked away from us.

Roman patted my back in comfort. It was his way of telling me not to worry about Dean’s attitude. He followed his friend as I went back to sit on my chair. As I watched the guys hug each other, someone sat beside me, but I didn’t really pay attention to who it was. My eyes were stuck on Seth, Dean and Roman as I realized how much the bond between those three was strong.

“Hello Alison.”

I turned around and had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. Catherine. Seth’s ex-girlfriend was sitting next to me with her perfect hair and perfect dress. The last time I had seen her was at Sarah’s wedding. That week-end almost turned out to be a disaster because of her crappy attitude. At the time, Seth and I weren’t even together and she was acting like the super jealous ex-girlfriend for absolutely no reason. The funniest thing is that we started dating because of her. I remembered the day of the wedding, when Seth and I were alone outside, talking about everything and nothing and Catherine was spying on us. I remembered kissing Seth just to drive her crazy but found myself lost in the sweetness of his lips.

“Please Catherine, now’s not the time for drama…” I said, trying to hold on my emotions.

Thinking about that first kiss hurt a lot more than I would’ve expected, but I didn’t want to look weak in front of her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to cause any.”

“Since when?”

I tried not to sound sarcastic but failed miserably. I looked at her and expected to see anger in her face but instead of being pissed, she smiled. It wasn’t that wicked smile I was used to coming from her. It was almost like a sad smile. The sympathy smile. What the hell was going on?

“Might sound crazy to you, but I’m here to apologize…”

I was speechless. Was she joking? I didn’t know if I should laugh or not. I tried to detect any kind of sarcasm in her voice but there was none. Oh my God, she really wanted to apologize. I guess now that Seth and I had broken up, she didn’t have to be mean to me anymore.

“I know I have been a bitch to you since day one and I…”

“You don’t have to apologize Cath-”

“But I want to.” she said, interrupting me. “I know what you have been through with Seth. With the paparazzi and rumors and all that crap… I’ve been in that same position. I know how rough it can be. And I know I have been a real bitch to you and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve it.”

“I-I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t have to say anything.” she said with a smile.

She told me that she talked a lot with Sarah after the wedding and that she had confessed to her that she really was the one who cheated on Seth. She then realized how much of a bitch she had been and how she was acting like she wanted to be back in his life again. The thing is that she didn’t want to. She really was done with Seth, but she didn’t want it to end the way it did, so she tried everything she could to make things right, without realizing that she was screwing it up even more. I thought for a moment that she might have been drunk for opening to me like that but then I realized that she was genuinely sorry.

“Thanks…” I finally said after a while.

She smiled and stood up, ready to leave. Her job was done and she seemed pretty happy with herself.

“Oh and Catherine…”

“Yeah?”

“Just so you know… Seth and I really were just friends that week-end.”

“I know.” she said with a smile before she walked away and joined Sarah.

Meanwhile, Roman and Dean were coming back, leaving Seth some alone time with his family. The big man told me they were heading downstairs to go grab a coffee and asked me if I wanted to join them. I could tell that Dean didn’t want me there and I hesitated for a second but when Roman offered me his hand, I decided to take it and follow them. I was here to support Seth through all this, but he was in good hands with his family so I could totally take some time off to enjoy a good coffee. All three of us headed downstairs in silence and sat at a table.

“You want anything?” Roman asked Dean. “Coffee, tea, water…”

The dirty blond shook his head and the big man turned to me.

“What about you?”

“Black coffee, please.” I said with a smile. “Thanks.”

Roman left me alone with Dean for a moment. It was as awkward as it never had been before. The room was empty except for us three and the silence between us was heavy and uncomfortable.

“How was Seth?” I finally asked him, trying to make conversation.

I figured the only thing he wouldn’t mind talking about was his best friend.

“He seemed fine… given the circumstances.”

“I’m glad you guys came.”

“We didn’t come because you asked.”

“I know…”

“Do you? You seemed to think that we ran to your rescue but we’re here for Seth. Not for you.”

“You don’t need to be rude.”

“What are you still doing here anyway?” he sharply said. “You called us because you wanted to be sure Seth wasn’t going through this alone. We’re here now. You can leave. It’s not like you hadn’t done it before…”

I felt my heart squeeze into my chest. I didn’t want to show him that his words were affecting me, but the fact was that they were. I felt the tears coming to my eyes and I had to fight the urge to crack. I was not going to give him the satisfaction. Meanwhile, Roman was coming back with my coffee but suddenly, I didn’t want any. I wasn’t even sure if I could even drink it or if I was going to puke, since I literally had my heart in my throat.

“Why do you have to be mean to me, Dean? What have I ever done to you?”

“Guys…” Roman said calmly. “Now’s not the time.”

“You left him.” Dean said, ignoring his best friend’s advice.

“You hated me before that. You have been a dick to me since day one.”

“She has a point…” Roman said.

The big man gave up on trying to stop our argument because he knew neither of us would stop. There was something between Dean and me and we needed to clear it up.

“She fucking broke his heart!” Dean snapped at his best friend. “Am I supposed to be ok with that?”

“I thought you’d be happy that I wasn’t in his life anymore.” I said.

“You know what? You’re right.” Dean finally stated. “I thought you weren’t good for him, that you were a distraction. Seth said otherwise and I chose to believe him, but as soon as you were done playing with him, you left.”

“I wasn’t playing with him, Dean”

“Do you have any idea how much you hurt him?” he yelled at me. “Seth was a fucking mess after you broke his heart! You weren’t there anymore but I had to deal with it. I was the one that picked up the pieces! I was there for him when you left him!”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I had no idea how Seth felt after that night at Felix’s house. We hadn’t seen each other until the day he showed up at my office to tell me his mom was sick. A look at Roman’s face confirmed me that Dean wasn’t lying. I thought he might be exaggerating but the way the big man nodded made me realize that he wasn’t.

“And all that because you couldn’t take it!” Dean continued.

Roman put his hand on his shoulder, silently asking him to calm down. He didn’t want to disturb Seth and his family that were still upstairs, grieving.

“Because I couldn’t take it?” I asked, sharply, trying to keep my voice down as much as I could.

“Yeah! You’re a fucking coward who ran away the first chance you got because you couldn’t take the pressure of dating someone famous. You should’ve thought of that before screwing with his head. Or maybe that’s all you wanted… to SCREW HIM!”

I couldn’t believe it. Is that what Seth had told them? That I used him? I looked at both of them in shocked. Roman was avoiding my stare but Dean wasn’t. He was determined to confront me once and for all, I could see it in his blue eyes. That’s when I understood what was really going on. I suddenly realized why Dean was acting like that with me.

“Oh my God…” I let out in a sigh. “You guys have no fucking idea what really happened…”

“What do you mean?” Roman asked.

“I didn’t leave Seth because I couldn’t take it!” I said, looking into Dean’s eyes. “They were threatening to take the championship away from him!”

“What?” they both said.

“Some people started rumors about me. They were saying things that weren’t true but apparently, your bosses didn’t appreciate it. True or false, they didn’t care. It was bad publicity and they didn’t want their champion to be associated with that kind of drama. I didn’t care about what they said about it. I knew it wasn’t true and yes, it bothered me for a while and made my life a lot harder, but not as much as it bothered me that Seth could lose his dream because of me. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

“Seth never said…” Roman said.

“Yeah… I see that now.” I said, interrupting the big man. “Listen, I know the way I handled things was fucking messed up… but it was the fastest way I found to let your bosses know that Seth and I were done. I had to think fast before they actually take it away from him. At the time, I thought I had no other choice. I know now that it wasn’t the best way, but what’s done is done.”

“Doesn’t make sense…” Dean finally said. “Seth would’ve told us.”

“Oh so you think I’m lying? Well, fuck you Dean, ‘cause I’m not! It’s not my fault if your best friend decided to keep that away from you!” I yelled as I felt tears coming to my eyes. “I am not going to sit here and listen to you talk about how I’m a bitch for breaking Seth’s heart. You think I don’t know that already? Do you think for one second that I don’t feel bad every fucking day for doing it? I LOVED him. I didn’t WANT to leave him. I HAD to leave him.”

As Dean was about to say something, we heard someone coming downstairs. We all decided to shut up and turned around to see who it was. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that it was Seth.

“Here you are.” he said with a small smile. “I thought you guys left.”

“You know we wouldn’t.” Roman said when he realized Dean and I weren’t going to say anything.

We were both still pretty fired up and decided it was best to keep our mouth shut. We both didn’t want Seth to know about what had just happened. Now wasn’t the time. At least we agreed on something.

“Am I interrupting something?” Seth asked as he looked at both Dean and me.

“No.” the dirty blond said, with a calm voice.

I could feel Seth’s stare on me but I couldn’t face him. All my emotions wanted to burst out of me and I knew they would as soon as I would look into his beautiful brown eyes, so I kept staring into Dean’s. My heart jumped in my chest when I felt Seth’s hand on my shoulder.

“You OK?”

“She’s fine.” Dean and Roman said at the same time.

“Ali?” Seth asked with a worried voice.

“I’m fine.” I finally managed to say.

Although he didn’t seem convinced, he decided to let it go and sat with us. Roman changed the subject and talked with Seth while Dean and I were still staring at each other. After a while, we both calmed down and joined the conversation like nothing had happened between us. As much as I was pissed at him, at least now I knew what his problem was with me and he now knew the truth about the break-up. The fact is that we both cared a lot about Seth’s and we had no idea how much the other cared too.


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Yes, I am alive... and YES I am sorry. I know you guys have been waiting for the rest of the story and I am sorry it has been so long. I promised I wouldn't let you down and that I was going to finish that story and I intend on keeping that promise. For those who know me are already aware of what's keeping me from writing as much as before. I am a mom now! I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on April 21st and I got to say, she's keeping me busy. Anyway, there's a couple of chapter left to this story and I thank you guys for still being here with me ! Enjoy this new chapter.

After the funeral, Seth and I went back to his place. With Roman and Dean, we decided we would go out to a bar to finish the night. I wasn’t sure at first, but Seth insisted. He said he needed to change his mind and I couldn’t agree more. I told him he could go with his friend and that I’d be waiting for him at his house, but Roman insisted that I’d go with them. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling this whole bar thing, especially with what happened between Dean and me, but I just couldn’t say no. I had one condition though. I needed a shower and more especially, I needed to change. There was no way in hell that I would go out into those clothes that I had bought especially for the funeral. While Seth was dealing with the arrangement yesterday, I went out to shop for a proper outfit for the event. I looked at my reflection in the mirror as I was stripping down the black clothes and immediately felt better. This outfit, it wasn’t me. I used to wear a lot of these formal things back when I was working for my dad, but not anymore. Seeing myself into those clothes brought me back to this period of my life and I decided that I never wanted to go back there. I was finally free and I intended to stay that way. I jumped in the shower real quick and washed my dark long hair before I rushed into washing my pale skin. I didn’t want to take too much time since Roman and Dean were supposed to pick us up in a few minutes, but a part of me wanted to stay into this hot water forever.

I couldn’t stop thinking about my conversation with Dean. Or maybe I should say confrontation. I couldn’t get passed over the fact that Seth had lied to his best friend. What was the point? Why would he keep that away from them? To make it look like I was the bad guy? OK, maybe I was. After all, I was the one who left him and I must admit the way I handled things was probably the worst ever, but my intentions were good to begin with. How come his two best friends didn’t know that the company was planning on taking the championship away from him because of me? When we were finally alone Seth and I, I wanted to ask him, but a part of me told me to shut up. Things were finally great between us and I didn’t want to screw it all up. For the first time since that night at Felix’s house, things were working out just fine. The awkwardness between us was finally gone and it was like nothing happened. Those past two days went on just fine and I couldn’t be happier about it. I had the feeling that we were back to being the friends we once were and I had no intention of screwing it all up by asking him why he lied to his friends about our separation.

I wrapped the towel around me after I had stopped the water and got out of the shower. Even if I wasn’t in there for long, the mirror was already all misted up and I had to wipe it with my arm so that I could see something. As I was dressing up, I heard knocks on the door and it made me jump.

“Hold on a second!” I yelled to Seth as I rushed to put on my jeans.

 I tangled myself in my shirt as I was putting it on in a hurry that in the end, it took longer than expected before I could finally tell Seth to come in. I unlocked the door and opened it for him. He looked so handsome in his black shirt that it almost took my breath away. Almost.

“I’m almost done.” I told him as I went back in front of the mirror. “I just need to dry my hair.”

“No rush. Do your thing.” Seth replied with a smile. “I just need to brush my teeth.”

I smiled at him and start the hair dryer as I brushed my wet hair. I hated doing that but I had no choice. If I did not dry them, it would look like a complete mess. I don’t usually mind, but now that we were planning on going out, I had no choice.

 “Sho…” Seth said, his mouth full of toothpaste. “Wha was tha all bout?”

“What?”

I knew exactly what he wanted to know, but I acted as if I had no idea. I knew he wanted me to tell him what had happened with Dean back at the funeral. I didn’t want to talk about it so I tried to find a way out, but I also knew that Seth wouldn’t let it go. He spat in the sink, rinsed his mouth with water and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I tried to stay focused on myself and avoid his stare but it was easier said than done.

“What happened with Dean?” he asked as he put back his toothbrush in his mouth.

“Nothing.”

I didn’t have to see his reflection to know that he was giving me the look. I knew that look way too well. I knew he wasn’t buying it but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let him win this one. I continued drying my hair as if nothing really happened between Dean and me.

“What?” I finally said when I noticed he wouldn’t let it go.

“I know Dean more than anybody…”

“And…?”

“He was pissed as hell.”

“Good for him. Why won’t you ask him what his problem is?” I asked, making sure Seth noticed how annoyed I was by his questions. “Why the hell would I know why he was pissed?”

“Because I know you too and you were as mad as he was.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were.” he said as he spat again in the sink.

I noticed that my face was becoming redder by the minute and I chose to blame it on the hair dryer. The temperature in the bathroom was intensely rising and it had to be that. It sure had nothing to do with the fact that I was beginning to lose my temper. I couldn’t let Seth know how affected I was by all this. I wasn’t going to let him win.

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing. I don’t know what you’re talki-“

“What did he say to piss you off like that?”

“I said I wasn’t...”

“Oh come on Ali!” he yelled, interrupting me. “I know you and you were definitely mad at him. Just like you are right now. Just tell me what happened back there!”

I didn’t answer and continue to dry my hair. They weren’t even wet anymore but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to stop it or I would be forced to face him. Deep down inside, I hoped he would just give up and get out of the bathroom, but I was delusional.

“Fine.” he said, clearly losing his patience. “Then what did YOU say to him? I know the guy Ali… I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that shaken up.”

I just couldn’t tell him how his best friend thought I was just a ring rat and about the fact that I had to tell Dean and Roman that Seth had lied to them about our separation. Things were finally OK between us, why would he insist on knowing what happened back at the funeral? I turned off the hair dryer and turned around to face my ex-boyfriend. I thought he was going to be mad but what I saw in his face looked more like sadness to me.

“Ali…” he said with a sad voice. “Talk to me.”

Deep down inside, I’m sure he already knew the reasons why Dean and I argued. I don’t know why he was waiting for me to say something. Maybe he was waiting for an opportunity to explain to me why he lied to his best friends and he didn’t want to be the one bringing up the subject.

“Let it go Seth.” I said as I made my way out of the bathroom.

I was done fighting with him over this, but he wasn’t. Before I could walk out the door, Seth grabbed my arm to stop me. My heart skipped a beat when he touched me and a part of me wasn’t happy about that. I didn’t want to feel anything for him. I wanted us to be friends, just like we were at the beginning. Once again, I was drowning in delusions. I stared into his big brown eyes and it broke me even more.

“If you don’t want to tell me, I’ll just ask Dean.”

“Then ask him.”

At least I wouldn’t be the one having the conversation. I didn’t mind if Seth knew what had been said between his best friend and me. I just didn’t want to be the one to tell him. I wanted to leave the past in the past.

“He will tell me…” he said without letting go of my arm.

Before I could say anything, we heard a horn coming from outside. Roman and Dean were in front of the house, waiting for us to go to that bar. Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling this whole “let’s go have fun” thing.

“They’re here.” I said.

Seth sighed and let his hand slide on my naked arm. He slowly brushed his fingers on my wrist before he finally let go of me.

***

The car ride was the weirdest one I’ve ever been in. Roman insisted that I sat in the front with him and I felt so bad for Dean since he was forced to sit in the back. He already hated me so much, I didn’t want to make things worse. I was surprised when the dirty blond changed place without saying a single word. Everybody stayed silent until Roman pulled the car into the parking lot. Inside the bar, the loud music was covering for our awkward silence and everything seemed a lot better. Dean spotted an empty table and we all followed him.

“So…” Seth started. “Who’s gonna tell me what happened between Dean and Ali back at the funeral?”

“Seth…” I said as a warning.

“I wasn’t talking to you Ali.” he said, sharply. “You refused to tell me what happened so I’m asking the guys.”

“You’re fucking annoying.” I mumbled to myself.

“What?” Seth asked me.

Dean and Roman both had a grin on their faces. They understood what I had said but not Seth and if they thought this was funny, good for them. I didn’t.

“Why won’t you just drop it?”

“Why won’t you just tell me.”

I growled and sat back on my chair, grumpy. He was pissing me off big time and I wanted to go back home. I was sick and tired of him acting like a freaking child. Roman looked at me and his gaze told me to calm down. I was overreacting and I was totally aware of it.

“Roman?” Seth said, when he noticed that the big man was looking at me.

The Samoan didn’t say a word and Seth turned to his other best friend.

“Dean?”

Dean’s blue gaze met mine. I was hoping that he could keep his mouth shut. I didn’t mind if Seth knew about it, I just didn’t want to be there when Dean would tell him.

“Drop it Seth.” he said, without breaking his stare.

“Dude… I know you. You were pissed off as hell and…”

“I’m always like that.” Dean said, interrupting Seth.

“That’s not…”

“Drop it.”

“You swear nothing happened?” Seth asked his best friend.

“Nothing happened.” he answered. “Now go get us something to drink before we die of thirstiness.”

Seth looked at Dean with a suspicious look. He clearly did not believe him but thankfully, he decided to let it go. Roman said he would go with him to get us some drink, leaving me behind, alone with the dirty blond. Another awkward silence came between us, until I decided to break it.

“Thanks.” I simply said.

“Don’t mention it.”

“Seriously though… you didn’t have to lie to him…”

Although I was happy he kept his mouth shut, I was still feeling kind of bad. He was his best friend after all, he didn’t have to lie to protect me.

“He lied to me first.” Dean said. “And technically speaking, I did not lie.”

“You told him nothing happened…”

“Yeah… but I didn’t swear.” he said with a small smile.

“If you say so.”

“I do.” he replied.

We both started laughing as the guys came back with their hands full of shots and beers. Dean and I silently called for a truce as we all raised our drink to Seth’s mom before taking a long sip. I took a look at my ex-boyfriend and sighed as I watched him swallow the entire thing.

“Maybe you should slow down a bit.” I told him with a smile.

“My mom would want me to have fun.” he said with a sad voice. “I’m gonna have fun.”

“And I’ll drink to that.” Dean said as he raised a shot in the air.

Roman and Seth both took a shot too and the three guys looked at me. I hesitated for a second and finally took one too.

“Let’s get this party started then.” I finally said, as I raised my arm to cheer with them.


	41. Chapter 41

A couple of hours later, we were still at the bar, drinking. We must’ve toasted for everything in the world and I stopped counting the drinks. Every time I was done with one, another one appeared out of nowhere. We were having a lot of fun and we were talking about everything and nothing. It was the most time Dean and I spent together without fighting and it felt great. Seth finally let go of what had happened earlier or maybe it was the alcohol that made him forget. Every time he had a new drink in hand, he would make another toast to his mom. We were all emotional when we talked about her. She was an amazing woman who would never be forgotten by all of us. I had no idea how close she was with Dean and Roman. Seth told us how she considered them as her own children and it touched his best friend so much.

“She was the best, seriously.” Roman said.

I could see the sadness in his voice and it broke my heart. Dean agreed and I could tell how affected they were by his death too. That woman changed a lot of lives and she was loved by many. I remembered the first time I met her. Seth and I weren’t together yet but she knew better than us. Even though he had told her that I was just a friend, she knew there was something more than friendship between the two of us. And damn she was right. At that time, I had never even considered being intimate with her son, but apparently she knew it was going to happen one day or another.

“I immediately liked her as soon as we met.” I said with nostalgia in my voice.

“She did too.” Seth replied with a smile. “She wouldn’t stop telling me how great you were.”

“Your mother loved everyone.” Dean said.

“Not everyone.” I said. “She hated Catherine.”

Dean cringed at the sound of that name and it made me laugh so much. Why was I not surprised that he hated her? He literally hated everybody that was close to his best friend, except for Roman.

“Ugh… Catherine…” he said as he acted like he would throw up.

“Dean.” Seth said, as a warning.

“What?”

My ex-boyfriend rolled his eyes to the sky and Roman burst out in laughter.

“Let me guess…” I said as I took a sip of my beer. “You didn’t like her.”

“Bingo!” Dean shouted as he bumped his bottle onto mine.

“Not liking her doesn’t even cover how Dean felt about that girl.” Roman added after he was done laughing. “Don’t even get him started on her or we’d still be here tomorrow morning.”

“I’d say night… tomorrow night.” Dean stated, very serious.

“Guys, just stop OK?”

Seth was the only one not laughing. He had a small smile on his face, but a part of him was holding back a real laugh. I had no idea why because this was too damn funny not to laugh. OK, maybe all those beers and shots were responsible for my sudden euphoria, but it was still very funny.

“She was a complete bitch.” Dean stated.

“Dean!” Seth shouted.

“What? She was!”

“You gotta admit that she was…” Roman said to his younger best friend.

For Roman to say something like that, Catherine must’ve done something bad to piss him off big time.

“She wasn’t THAT bad.” Seth stated.

“You’re only saying that because she had big boobs.”

“Fake boobs Dean.” I said, laughing. “You forgot to say FAKE.”

 “You’re just jealous.” Seth said, looking at me.

If there had not been that big smile on his face, I could’ve been offended. I punched his shoulder as hard as I could to let him know that I was mad at him, even though it was obvious that I wasn’t. Seth grabbed my arm to prevent another punch and locked me in a sleeper hold. With his arm around my throat, I had nowhere to go and I started to scratch and scream to get out of there. Dean stood up and did the same to Seth who had to let go of me and the two best friends started fighting for fun.

“That’s enough.” Roman said with his big voice. “Stop acting like kids or they’ll kick us out of here.”

“Yeah.” I added. “I’m not done with my beer so stop that.”

Dean let go of Seth and sit back down on his chair. People around us were looking at us with fear in their eyes. I reassure them that everything was fine and they all went back to what they were doing.

“Bottom line is that Catherine is a bitch with big FAKE boobs.” I stated as I burst into laughter.

Dean showed me his fist and I immediately bumped it with mine. We finally agreed on something. Good to know that we could find a common ground between us. Too bad it had to be my ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. Seth looked at us with a smile on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“One of these days, you’re gonna have to tell me what the hell is going on with you guys.” he said as he pointed Dean and me. “One minute you’re about to tear each other apart and the next you act like you’re the best of friends, fist bumping and teaming up against me.”

“One of these days.” Dean said as he winked to me.

“So you admit that…”

“SHUT UP SETH!” we both shouted, laughing.

***

We stayed at the bar until someone told us we needed to leave. It was getting late and they were waiting for us to leave so that they could close and go home. Roman drove us back to Seth’s house since he didn’t drink much. As for Dean, Seth and myself, we were pretty wasted. Especially Seth. I was worried at first but if he needed to drink to grieve, who was I to question him? Roman pulled the car into Seth’s parking and got out to help Seth. He passed an arm around him and walked with him inside the house. All along the way, Seth kept repeating that he was just fine and that he wasn’t that drunk. I was about to follow them when I felt a hand on my arm.

“Ali wait…” Dean said.

I turned around to face him, trying hard to hide my surprise. I stared into his blue eyes and thought to myself that they were very beautiful. I never noticed how mesmerizing they could be and I chose to blame the tequila for these weird thoughts.

“I wanted to apologize.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Actually, I do.” he stated. “I’ve been a dick to you since day one and I’m sorry.”

I gave him my most sincere smile. His apology touched me. Dean was not the kind of guy who would bullshit you. If he had something to say, he would just say it to your face without any fear of the consequence his words could have. If he was saying that he was sorry right now, he really was.

“I get it.” I told him. “You care about him, it’s normal that you want to protect him at any cost. To be perfectly honest with you, I would’ve done the same thing for Felix.”

I always had trouble accepting Felix’s boyfriend. In my opinion, they weren’t good enough for my best friend and I had no shame in telling him to run away from them. I knew how hard it was so I totally get why Dean acted like this with me. The thing is that it took me four beers and a lot of shots to understand it. Or was it five beers?

“Yeah… Seth is like my little brother. It’s hard not to be protective.” Dean said as he looked at the ground. “Anyway, I’m sorry.”

“So am I. I never meant to hurt Seth. It may not seem like it, but I tried to do the right thing.”

Dean didn’t say a thing but he nodded. At least now we both knew how the other felt in all this mess.

“Let’s do this right...” he said as he presented his hand to me. “Hi, my name is Dean… I can be a real dick sometimes but I mean no harm.”

“Oh my God! How many drinks have you had?”

“Shut up and take my hand. Don’t leave me hanging.”

I burst into laughter as I stared into his beautiful blue eyes. The funniest thing was that he was serious about this. I finally decided to take his hand and shake it.

“Hi, my name is Ali… I suck when it comes to dealing with break ups but I mean no harm either.”

A smile lightened up Dean’s face. It was the most genuine one I had ever seen coming from him. The hand shake lasted a couple second before he finally let go of me.

“He still care about you…” he let out as he looked at me straight in the eyes.

I looked at the ground and sighed. Those words hurt more than anything in the world.

“And I still care about him… but it doesn’t change the fact that we can’t be together. It’s not ‘what’s best for business’ as your boss would say.”

“I know… but he’s miserable without you.”

I thought about that other girl. The one who was on his Instagram pics. The one who called him a million times since we landed in Iowa. He was perfectly fine without me. I wanted to talk to Dean about her, but a little voice in the back of my head told me not to. I didn’t really want to know what was going on between them. It was none of my business. I made my decision and I had to live with it. Seth was allowed to move on with his life. Maybe it was time for me to do the same.

“He is not. Believe me.” I said with a sad smile. “Take care Dean.”

“You too.” he said as he briefly hugged me.

“Wow. You really drank too much tonight.”

“Probably.”

I laughed and turned around to go inside. On my way to the front door, I bumped into Roman who was getting out of the house.

“How bad is he?”

“Better than I thought he would be.” Roman answered with a smile. “He’s in the shower.”

“Good to know that he can stand on his own two feet.” I said as I stood on my tiptoes to hug to big man.

He wrapped his big arms around me and squeezed me hard.

“He might need your help though…” he whispered in my ear.

“Roman!” I shouted, offended.

“What?” he asked as he burst into laughter. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

I shook my head, told him goodnight and went inside the house, trying to hide the smile on my face.


	42. Chapter 42

I desperately needed to refresh my mouth after all that drinking. I had this disgusting taste that was caused by the mix of the beer and tequila and it wouldn’t go away. As I made my way to the guest room, I heard the water running in the bathroom. Seth was still in the shower so I would have to wait before I could brush my teeth. There was no way in hell that I would go in there while he was. Especially not after what Roman had said. His words were coming back to me and my face reddened as I entered the guest room. I reached for my suitcase to get my pajama. I sighed when I put on Seth’s shirt. I would definitely kill Felix for packing this particular shirt. I knew him too much to know that it wasn’t accidental and totally intentional. People around us were getting on my nerves. Why wouldn’t they mind their own business? It was like they all talk to each other and concluded that they had to push Seth and me in each other’s arms. First Felix with that damn shirt and then Roman with his non-subtle way to tell me to join Seth in the shower. Oh, and there was what Dean had said. About how Seth still cared about me. About how miserable he was. His words kept coming back to my mind as I looked at my reflection in the mirror that was hanging on the guest-room wall.

_I need to stop drinking_ , I thought as I noticed how messed up I looked.

My eyes were tiny and red and my hair was all over the place. Good thing I was about to go to bed. Nobody would see me like that.

“I love that shirt on you.” I heard Seth say behind me.

I screamed and jumped. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t hear him coming. I never even noticed that the water had stopped running in the bathroom.

“You scared the shit out of me.” I said as I turned around.

Seth was standing in the doorway, smiling. His hair was wet and little drops of water were running down onto his naked chest. He was only wearing a towel around his waist and I had to fight not to stare. It was hanging so low on his hips that I wondered how it could stay in place. I had the impression that any movement would make it fall to the ground, leaving him naked in front of me. As I was trying to decide if I wanted him to move or not, he apologized.

“Didn’t mean to scare you.” he said with a smile.

He didn’t seem sorry at all and something in the way he was looking at me made me uncomfortable but I wasn’t going to let him know how affected I was. I tried my best not to stare at his perfection but it was easier said than done. Seth slowly bit his lower lips before he let out a laugh. The bastard knew damn well that he was driving me crazy and he was enjoying it.

“I was just thinking about giving it back.” I said, talking about the shirt.

“You should keep it… You look hot in it.”

“Seth…”

“What?” he asked, trying to look as innocent as possible.

He was failing miserably, but I wasn’t going to fight with him. I sighed and shook my head in desperation. What game was he playing now?

“Thanks, but I’m giving it back anyway.” I told him.

“Fine… take it off then…” he replied as he took a step toward me.

As he was getting closer, I was stepping backward until my back hit the wall behind me. My heart was racing inside my chest as Seth was closing the distance between us. The proximity of his perfect body made it hard to think straight. I was torn between pushing him away from me and running my hand in his wet hair. He pressed his body to mine and put his hands on my waist.

“What are you doing” I asked, out of breath.

“What does it look like?” he whispered in my ear as he kissed my neck, hitting my sweet spot right away.

He remembered exactly where it was. He didn’t have to search for it. He knew how vulnerable I was when his lips touched that spot in my neck. My legs felt like jelly and I might have fallen to the floor if his tight body wasn’t pinning me on the wall.

“Seth…” I let out, trying hard not to make it sound like a moan. “Don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

_Because you’re drunk_ , I thought to myself.

Because of that other girl, because of our past, because of your job, because we just can’t. There were a million reasons why it wasn’t a good idea, but I couldn’t tell him. The words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth. “ _He still cares about you”…_ Dean words were coming back to my mind as I stared into Seth’s beautiful brown eyes and once again, I couldn’t think straight.

“Ugh… I hate you.” I let out in a sigh.

“I know you do.” he murmured, smiling.

His lips crashed onto mine and I melted into his arms. I kissed him back hungrily as if it was the last thing I’d do. My heart and my head tried to let me know that it was not the right thing to do but I shut them both up. I didn’t want to think this through. I just needed to touch him, to feel his hand on my skin, to kiss and to bite those luscious lips… Seth groaned as he pressed me harder against the wall.

“I missed…”

“Shut up, asshole.” I said, interrupting him. “You’re gonna ruin everything.”

“Mmm… I love when you call me an asshole.” he moaned in my ear. “Remind me of the first time we met.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

The way he said it turned me on even more. The grin on his face was promising me a lot and it drove me crazy. I jumped into his arms, hoping he would catch me. We were both pretty wasted and an accident could easily happen. Seth cupped my ass as he caught me in the air before he pressed me against the wall to steady the both of us. His lips found their way back to mine and our tongue met for the first in months. We were fighting for dominance, filling the room with heavy breaths and moans. After Seth had brought me to the guest bed, I ripped his towel away, leaving him naked in front of me. I licked my lips in anticipation but Seth wouldn’t let me touch. He lied down on top of me and started kissing my neck as his hand slowly find its way under my shirt. I arched my back when he pinched my nipple, asking for more. He let out a small laugh when he noticed how I was reacting to his touch. He knew damn well how much I missed him, I couldn’t hide it anymore. I might have been lying to myself before, but I couldn’t lie anymore. The alcohol running through my veins and his magic hands were forcing me to tell the truth. Seth’s fingers were running on my breast, making me breathe faster and driving me crazy. I groaned in frustration because I wanted more but he would just stay there, teasing me. I hated it so much even though I was absolutely loving it. Everything around me was a blur and my brain had shut down. I wasn’t thinking straight but all that mattered at this very moment was Seth’s eyes on me. He was looking at my body as if it was the first time. It was like nothing had ever happened between us. We were back to square one. Back to the night of the wedding, when we discovered each other for the first time. I should’ve been scared, but I wasn’t. I chose to melt under his touch, moaning his name as he ripped my panties off of me.

***

My head hurt as I opened my eyes. My mouth was so dry and the taste was disgusting. It was a mix of beer, tequila and toothpaste. I thought to myself that I should never drink again, just like I promised to myself a million times. I should start listening to me. Just thinking about all that I had drunk last night made me sick to my stomach. Or was it the fact that I was tangled up in Seth’s arms? I was so comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. My heart was dancing into my chest but my head was yelling at me that I had been a bad girl. The guilt was unbearable. I was torn between staying in his warmth and put some distance between us. I remembered our first time we slept together. My anxiety was as high but it wasn’t for the same reason. Back then, I wasn’t ready for a relationship. This time, I simply couldn’t be with him.

“What’s wrong?” Seth let out in a husky tone.

My heart started beating faster. I hadn’t realized that he was awake. He didn’t have to see me to know that there was something wrong with me.

“We shouldn’t have…”

“But we did.” he said, interrupting me. “Now it’s too late to go back.”

I sighed as Seth brought me closer and squeezed me harder. Even if I wanted to get out of there, I wasn’t going to be able to. We were tangled up so badly that there was no way out and I couldn’t help but to think that it was a good thing. Otherwise, I might have run away.

“We were drunk.”

“That’s so not a good reason.” I said

“Ali please stop OK? Don’t overthink this. It happened. That’s it.”

“But…”

“I needed this. Please just let me enjoy a beautiful morning with a beautiful girl in my arms. I’m not asking you anything else. Just stay there and let me have this. I’m not expecting anything else from you. When you’ll be back home, you’ll have plenty of time to beat yourself up over this.”

His words completely shut me up and caught me off guard. He was right. This wasn’t a big deal. We were drunk, we had sex and we would go back to our lives as if nothing ever happened. I could do it. Could I?

“What about… that other girl.”

That was probably one of the main reasons why I felt so guilty. I didn’t like the fact that Seth was all over me last night even if he already had someone in his life. Was he like that when we were together? To how many girls had he said that he needed this?

“What girl?” Seth asked, surprised.

“The Instagram girl.”

“Oh… she’s just a friend.”

I moved away from Seth to look straight in his eyes.

“Just a friend?” I asked. “Seth, you don’t owe me anything, but please don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying Ali. She’s my friend.”

“A friend doesn’t call a million times a day.”

“She didn’t…”

“Yes. She did. Since we arrived, she never stopped calling.”

At that very moment, Seth’s phone started ringing, which was proving my point. He got out of bed and walked to his bedroom, naked, to get his cellphone. He came back with it and dropped it on the night table without answering.

“You’re not going to pick it up?”

“No.”

“Was it her?”

“Why do you ask a question when you already know the answer.” he said with a small smile.

“Was I just a friend too?” I asked him, without thinking.

This whole thing was starting to piss me off and I started to doubt everything Seth had ever said to me. Was he really on the road when he couldn’t be home with me? Was he really in his bed when I would call him late at night or was he with someone else?

“Hey…” he said grabbing my face with his hand to force me to look into his eyes. “Don’t do that. That girl you’re talking about is NOT my girlfriend OK? You were.”

_He still cares about you… He’s miserable without you…_ Dean’s words were once again coming back to haunt me. Seth’s thumb was brushing my cheek as I was still staring into his beautiful brown eyes. I lost the battle when I let out a sharp laugh and a smile lightened up his face. I chose to believe him.

“Why did you lie to Dean and Roman about our breakup?”

Seth tensed up and let his hand fall down to my thigh with a loud sigh. It was the first time either one of us was referring to it. We never talked about what had happened that night at Felix’s house.

“So that’s the reason why you and Dean were pissed off…” Seth said, finally connecting the dots.

“Kind of.”

There was a lot more to the story. I wasn’t going to tell him about how his best friend thought I was just a ring rat who wanted to be fucked by Seth. Things were fine between us now and I wasn’t going to screw that up. Seth stayed silent for a moment and I decided to be patient with him. I knew he didn’t really want to talk about it so I wasn’t going to rush him. He was slowly brushing my thigh as I was playing with the hair on his chest.

“If Dean had known the real reason why you left, he would’ve agreed with you.” he finally said. “I didn’t need another person to tell me that it was a good thing. It was easier if Dean was against you instead of being on your side.”

“I get why you lied to Dean… but what about Roman?”

“If Roman had known I had lied to Dean, he would’ve forced me to tell him the truth.”

It kind of made sense. Although it made my life a lot harder because I had to deal with Dean’s hate, I totally got it.

“I’m sorry Seth…” I finally let out in a sigh. “I never…”

“Don’t.”

“I never meant to hurt you… I swear.”

“I know…” he said as he slowly kissed my forehead. “Now I know…”

I went back into the warmth of his arms with a heavy heart. We stayed tangled up for a while, listening to the awkward silence that was filling the room. We were still both naked under those sheets but I didn’t mind.

“So…” Seth started, breaking the silence. “I assume that things between Dean and you are fine now, judging by the way you both teamed up on me last night.”

“Yeah… He actually apologized to me for being a dick, can you believe it?”

“Absolutely not. Dean never apologizes. You are one lucky girl.” he said as he started laughing.

“Speaking of apologies… You’ll never guess who else apologized to me.”

Seth moved away from me to stare into my eyes. I could read the confusion on his face and it made me laugh.

“Catherine.”

“Oh really? So she’s not that much of a bitch after all, huh?”

“Probably not… but she still has fake boobs.”

Seth laughed and brought me closer to him. He seemed legit happy and I couldn’t help but to smile. He then stared at me for a moment, without saying anything.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t tell you, you’ll get all mad… and then you’ll ruin my mood.”

“Tell me.” I insisted, promising him that I wouldn’t get angry.

“You’re beautiful.” he finally said. “And I want to kiss you.”

I froze and didn’t say a word. My heart started beating faster as I stared into his eyes.

“See, I knew you’d be…”

I didn’t give him time to finish what he was saying and I shut him up with a kiss.


	43. Chapter 43

Two weeks later, I was at work, sitting at my desk, unable to concentrate. I had an important article to write but I just couldn’t find the right words. I was staring at a blank page and I should’ve stressed out about all this, but I was just empty. I wasn’t really there. Since I came back from Iowa, I couldn’t stop thinking about Seth, about what happened that night. After our conversation in the morning, we stayed in bed all day long and it just felt right. Neither of us could deny that we were meant to be together. We were simply perfect for each other. I knew it and Seth knew it too, but we still agreed that things would remain the same. We would go on with our lives and act as if we didn’t just have the greatest sex ever.

We haven’t talked or texted since then. I wanted to but I didn’t know what to say. I was the one who insisted that things wouldn’t change, that we still couldn’t be together. It would’ve been very weird if I’d been the one calling him back first. Why didn’t he call? Why didn’t he text? Deep down inside, I hoped he would just tell me that he didn’t give a shit about anybody else but us. I knew I couldn’t expect that kind of reaction, not after I shut him down like I did. Felix thought I was being stupid and I had to admit that he was right. He kept telling me to call Seth and every day, when I was coming home from work, he would ask me if I talked to him.

Last night, I was so sick of my best friend’s harassment that I decided to call him. Right before I hit his pretty face on my phone, I received a notification from Instagram. Seth had posted a new picture and I decided to check it out before talking to him. Big mistake. On the picture, he was on the beach with that other girl. The one who wasn’t his girlfriend. I did not call him and I also did get any sleep. That would explain my mood and lack of concentration.

“Good morning.” my boss said as she walked into my office. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” I lied.

“Are you sure?”

Clearly, I wasn’t even in the mood to lie properly. It was obvious that there was something wrong with me. I didn’t really want to get into the details of my life with her right now so I simply nodded to let her know that everything was perfect. She was about to walk out of my office but she stopped and turned around.

“I’ve got to be honest with you Ali.” Elena said. “Since you came back, it seems that your head is not one hundred percent on the job.”

My heart started beating faster. I couldn’t afford to lose my job. Not after all I went through to get it.

“I’m sorry…” I said with a shaky voice.

“Hey… relax. I’m not here to fire you. I just want you to tell me what is going on. If I can help you with something, if you think I’m giving you too much to do…”

“No. It’s not that.” I said, interrupting her.

“Has something happened?”

She wouldn’t let it go. I didn’t want to talk about it. I was getting sick of it. I spent the night thinking about Seth, I didn’t want to spend all day talking about him. I had enough of Felix who was harassing me constantly, I didn’t need my boss to do it too.

“Kind of.” I let out, without thinking.

Elena stared at me and sat on a chair, patiently waiting for me to go on with my story.

“Seth and me… We kissed…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

Elena was totally aware of my history with Seth since I had already told her everything. Even though I was still new to this job, we bonded instantly. We had a lot in common and she was the kind of girl that loved talking so we immediately became close.

“So what happened next?” she asked me.

I blushed, thinking about what Seth and I did that night. I told her about the night we went out with the boys and about how Dean was a real dick to me but that he ended up being nice. I mentioned how Roman suggested that I should join Seth in the shower and it made her laugh.

“Did you?”

“No!” I yelled, offended. “I’m not that easy!”

“Really?”

“Shut up.” I let out, laughing.

“Then what?”

Then I told her about how Seth ambushed me in the guest room, half naked, ready to go. She laughed when I mentioned how badly I wanted to rip that towel off of him. I talked about our conversation, about how that other girl wasn’t supposed to mean anything. That morning, after he asked for a kiss, he made love to me, twice. Since we weren’t drunk anymore, I couldn’t blame the tequila for it. Things were weird between us when I left, after we agreed that we had a great time but we had to go on with our lives. I remember being so depressed in the plane on my way back home. I wondered how he felt too, but now I knew that he was perfectly fine with this whole situation. I literally pushed him in that other girl’s arms. I had my chance to make things right and I blew it. At least she seemed like a nice girl. I should’ve been happy for him but it was way too soon.

“You still love him?” Elena asked me, out of the blue.

I stared at her in silence. No one ever asked me this. Not even Felix. Did I still love him? I actually never really thought about that. I still cared about him, a lot, but did I still love him? I thought about how my heart was burning every time someone mentioned his name or how my stomach was fluttering when he would lay his eyes on me. I thought about his hands, brushing my skin and his fingers in my hair. Just thinking about all this made me blush. It was pretty obvious.

“I think I never stopped loving him…”

“Then you have to tell him.”

“I can’t…” I let out in a sigh.

“Why?” she asked. “Because of his job? Sweetie, I think he’s old enough to make his own choices don’t you think? If he says that he wants to be with you and that he doesn’t care about what people around him think, just fucking believe him and kiss the shit out of him.”

She had a point, but it wasn’t that simple. It was never that simple when it came to Seth Freaking Rollins.

“There’s another girl…”

“The one that means nothing to him? The one who is NOT his girlfriend?” she said, reminding me of Seth’s words.

“That was before I told him nothing was going to change between us, that we would never be together again… what if he changed his mind? Maybe he finally understood that he had lost me for good and he ran into her arms…”

“For Christ’s sake Ali, would you just stop assuming things?” Elena yelled, slowly losing her temper. “Here’s what you’re gonna do. You grab your stuff and you run to his house to tell him how you really feel.”

I laughed even though I tried not to. That girl was the best when it came to pep talk. I wished I had known her a lot sooner. I’m sure my life would’ve been so much easier.

“He’s on the road.”

“Then you find out where he is and you jump in a car-boat-plane or whatever else that will take you to him!”

“Elena, I appreciate your effort, but I can’t just leave like that. I just came back and I have a ton of work to do. Like you said, I wasn’t one hundred percent here, but now I have to catch up with everything and…”

“I don’t care Alison. Whether you’re here, thinking about how you screwed up and slacking on the job or at the other end of the world, chasing him, it won’t change anything.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go.” she said with a smile. “Do me a favor… Don’t fuck it up this time.”

I promised her that I wouldn’t. I thanked her for everything as she left my office. I immediately went to my laptop and checked online to know where WWE had their next shows. After I found the information that I was looking for, I booked myself a flight and called Felix.

“Hello?” he said with a sleepy voice.

“I need your help!”

“Hello to you too…”

“I need you to pack my suitcase and I need you to do it fast.”

“Again! Why?” he said, whining.

“Don’t ask questions, just fucking do it!”

“Fine! No need to freak out on me. I’m on it.”

“Thanks babe.” I said. “Oh and Fe’?”

“Hum?”

“This time, you can pack as many Seth Rollins’ shirt as you want.” I added with a big smile on my face.


	44. Chapter 44

Almost twenty hours later, my plane finally landed in New York and I was now impatiently waiting for a cab to go to the hotel that Felix had booked for me. When I got home yesterday after I had talked to him, he was waiting for me with my suitcase ready and the details for my hotel. I wondered how the hell he knew where I was going. I forgot how much my best friend knew me. As soon as I told him to pack my things, he already knew I was going to see Seth so he checked online to see where WWE was supposed to be in the next few days. Just like I did. Turned out they had a convention and they were all staying at the same hotel where Seth and I met for the first time. Felix had used my dad’s credit card to book me a room. I was mad at him for doing that because he was risking his job, but my best friend told me that my dad would never find out anyway. They were sending two or three journalists for the interviews so ‘nobody will notice you’ he said. The bastard even gave me my old pass back, in case I need some kind of identity to reach Seth.

I had a plan in mind and the first step was to find Dean. I had to know what the deal was between Seth and the Instagram girl and if someone knew exactly what was going on, it was him. I could ask Roman, but he might lie to me to spare my feelings. He was just so good and kind to me that he wouldn’t take the chance to hurt me. With Dean, I knew he wouldn’t spare me at all. Even though things were great the last time we saw each other, I knew he would still be as direct as before. It was simply just the way Dean was.

Thanks to Felix, I had Dean’s phone number. Otherwise, my plan would’ve never worked. As soon as I passed the hotel’s front door, I texted him and asked if he could join me in the lobby. I waited for what seemed like an eternity before he finally showed up, scruffy as fuck with bloodshot eyes and messed-up hair.

“This better be fucking important.” he mumbled, grumpy. “I was sleeping like a baby.”

I looked at the clock on the wall and gave him a pity look. I hadn’t noticed it was seven in the morning. I was so caught up in all of this that I had no idea what time it was.

“I’m sorry.” I said with a small voice.

“What are you doing here anyway?” he asked surprised, as if he just noticed me.

“I need to talk to Seth but…”

“Then why am I…”

“Would you just shut the fuck up and let me talk!” I snapped.

Dean looked at me with widening eyes.

“Sorry.” I said when I realized how rude I had been. “Too much caffeine.”

“No kidding. Speaking of caffeine, you owe me a coffee for waking me up that early. Come on.”

He passed his arms around my shoulder and led me to the hotel’s restaurant. We chose a table as far away as possible to have some privacy. There were a couple of other wrestlers here and there and I didn’t want them to listen to us. Most of them already knew me and I didn’t want them to tell Seth that I was here. Not yet. Not until I knew exactly what the deal between him and Instagram girl was. A waitress came to see us and Dean ordered something to eat with a coffee.

“She’s paying.” he told her as he pointed me. “And she’s not allowed to drink coffee.”

The waitress wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be funny but she finally cracked a smile when she heard me laugh. I told her that I didn’t want anything. Dean asked me if I was sure and said he was just joking about me paying the bills, but I assured him that I was fine. I don’t think I’d be able to eat anyway. The waitress went back to the kitchen after she granted Dean with her most beautiful smile.

“You look terrible by the way.” Dean said to me.

Typical Dean. Direct as usual. That was the reason why he was the one sitting in front of me and not Roman. I couldn’t be mad at him, because I knew that I looked like crap.

“Thank you Dean. That is so kind of you.” I said with a big fake smile. “Right back at you.”

“Yeah, but some crazy chick asked me to meet her in the lobby at seven in the morning. What’s your excuse?”

“I’m a crazy chick who hasn’t slept in days and traveled all night long to meet you in the lobby at seven in the morning.”

“But whyyyy?” Dean asked with his annoying whining voice.

I grabbed my cellphone and opened the Instagram app. The picture of Seth and that girl on the beach appeared on my screen and my heart hurt a little bit more.

“She’s the reason why I’m here.” I said as I showed him the pic.

“Britany?” he asked, surprised.

So Britany was her name. Good to know she had one. It didn’t really change anything because for me, she would remain the Instagram girl. Dean looked at me with a weird face. He seemed to be finally connecting the dots but again, he could be pretty dumb sometimes.

“Sooo… Britany is the reason why you look like crap…because…” he slowly said. “Sorry, I don’t get it.”

“What’s going on between them?”

“Between them…?”

“Dean! Stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about!” I said, louder than I should have.

“Hey sweetie, I haven’t drink any coffee yet and it’s fucking early so you better calm down.” he snapped back at me.

“Don’t ‘sweetie’ me! What’s going on between Seth and… her?” I asked, unable to pronounce her name. “Are they together?”

Saying those words out loud made it so much worse. I realized just now that if there really was something between them, I would be devastated.

“Ask Seth.”

“He said she didn’t mean anything…”

“Then why are you asking me if he already answered your question?” Dean asked

“I don’t… I just…” I started, not really knowing what to say anymore. “I need to hear it from you.”

“From me?”

“Seth tells you everything. If there was something going on between them, you would know. And since you’re not the kind of guy who would bullshit me, I thought I could ask you.”

“You are right about something here. Seth tells me everything.” Dean said with a smile. “As a matter of fact, I know what happened between you two after we went to that bar a couple of weeks ago.”

I felt my cheeks getting redder and redder as I remembered the sex we had the night. Dean was looking at me with a grin on his face and I would’ve given anything to be at the other end of the world right now. It was too embarrassing. What did he know exactly? Meanwhile, the waitress came back with his coffee and his breakfast.

“I know that you both agreed it wouldn’t happen again…” Dean said. “But I also know how much Seth cares about you…”

“I care about him too… Believe me. That’s why I need to know what’s going on.” I said with sadness in my voice. “If they are together…”

“I wouldn’t worry about her.”

“Really?” I asked with a spark of hope in my eyes.

“Trust me.” he said with a genuine smile. “Nothing happened between them. Not gonna lie to you, she wanted to. Big time. But Seth… he pushed her away like a million times.”

Dean then told me that Seth was simply enjoying her company and that he basically used her as a distraction. At first, he was interested by her, but then he realized that he wanted her as a friend and nothing else. He knew that it would be a big mistake to go all the way with her.

“I guess he knew you’d come back running…” he added.

“Where is he now?” I asked with a big smile on my face, unable to hide how happy I was.

“I don’t know… probably at one of his stupid Crossfit classes. He was already gone when my stupid phone woke me up.”

“Fuck…”

I needed to see him and I needed to see him now. I couldn’t wait anymore. Seth had to know the truth about the way I felt about him. Dean told me that he had to get ready for the day but that I could go upstairs with him and wait for Seth’s return.

“He should be back in an hour or so…” Dean said as he took a sip of coffee.

I had no other choice but to wait for him so I accepted his offer and after Dean had finished his breakfast, we both made our way to their hotel room.

***

Two hours later, I was still waiting for Seth to come back. At some point, Dean told me that he had to leave for his conference, but he assured me that I could stay. He even gave me an extra key in case I had to leave the room before he hugged me and wished me good luck. I was impressed that he was so kind to me and I wanted to tease him about it but I chose not to. The wait for Seth was so long that it was driving me crazy. Every time I heard the elevator, I had hope that it might be him but every time, I ended up being disappointed. What the fuck was taking so long? I was preparing my speech in my head for the hundredth time when I finally heard someone on the other side of the door. My heart started beating faster and my hands were getting all sweaty. I felt like a teenage girl on her first date. I felt very stupid. What was I supposed to say to him again? Oh yeah, only that he was the love of my life. Just that.

“Seth, we don’t have time, we must go.” I heard a man say on the other side of the door.

“I won’t be long, I just need to get my cap.”

“Who cares if you have your cap or not?”

“I do.” Seth said. “Girls love it when I have it on.”

The door opened and I came face to face with him. I smiled when I read the confusion in his eyes. He clearly did not expect me. Good to know that Dean didn’t warn him after he left for his conference. I looked at the person behind him and waved to Cesaro.

“Seth, we’re going to be late.” he said as he waved back to me.

“Yeah. I know. Hold on a second.” Seth replied as he closed the door behind him, leaving his friend alone in the hallway.

“Seth!” I heard Cesaro yell from outside.

Seth dropped his gym bag to the floor and walked toward me. Even though I knew exactly what I wanted to say to him, the words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth. The room was filled with tension and the silence seemed to last forever.

“What are you doing here?” Seth finally asked when he understood that I wasn’t going to say anything.

“I… We… I need to talk to you.”

“Seth!” Cesaro yelled again.

“Now’s not a good time…I can’t afford to be late to the conference.”

“Oh…OK.” I said with a broken voice.

“We’ll talk later OK? Wait for me.” he said as he slowly brushed my arm.

Seth grabbed his cap on his bed and put it on. He was right. He was absolutely amazing with that on. I told him that I would wait for him to come back. I wanted to kiss him, but I couldn’t. I had to talk to him first. He briefly smiled at me before he made his way to the door.

“Ali?” he said as he turned back to look at me.

“Yeah?”

“It’s good to see you.” he said before he disappeared into the hallway.

The room was filled with silence again. My anxiety was so high that I couldn’t breathe. I sat on the bed and tried to calm myself down. I took my phone and texted Felix to let him know that I arrived safely to New York. I was so focused on my plan that I had forgotten to text him. I also called Elena to let her know that I was following orders and that I was in Seth’s bedroom. We talked for a while and it helped to keep me sane while I was waiting for him to come back.

After we hung up, I look at the clock and sighed. Why was he taking so long? I played on my cellphone for a while, installed a couple of new apps and search uninteresting things on different websites for another two hours before it finally hit me. What the fuck was I doing here? Why was I waiting for him? I just couldn’t stay here anymore. I had to leave. I threw my phone in my bag, grabbed my suitcase and left Seth’s hotel room with a heavy heart.


	45. Chapter 45

After I left Seth's hotel room, I could finally breathe again. The pressure I felt on my chest disappeared the moment I stepped into that cab. The cab driver was not very talkative, but I didn't really mind since I didn't want to talk anyway. I was lost into my own head and that was fine by me. It was where I was the most comfortable right now.

A little less than a year ago, my dad had sent me to a convention so that I could interview wrestlers for his magazine. I remembered how pissed I was back then. I didn't want to do it. I hated wrestling back then and I hated the superstars as well. If it hadn't been for Felix, I wouldn't have done it. The perspective of how much fun we could have after our job would be done convinced me. Little did I know how it would change my life forever.

That day, I met Seth Freaking Rollins, the annoying arrogant asshole. I remembered how much of a dick he had been to me the first time we talked, just because I had no idea who he was. The way he talked to me pissed me off so much that I told him to go fuck himself in front of everyone.

Even though I immediately despised him, I couldn't help but to be attracted by him. His long dark hair and his mesmerizing brown eyes were driving me crazy, making me nervous and giving me dirty thoughts all night long. I remembered how the bastard barged into my room, without being invited. He wanted to apologize, but I kicked him out of my room. I thought I was done with him after that day, but for some reason, he kept coming back into my life.

Like that night Felix and I went out to a bar in New York, right after the convention. I got myself so drunk that I could barely walk back to my room and Seth just happened to be in that stupid elevator. Or that time when my best friend got himself so drunk at a bar back home and he mysteriously bumped into him. I remembered how confused I was when Seth tried to open my front door with Felix's keys. That night, I discovered another man. It was so kind of him to take care of my best friend by making sure he would get home safely. I wasn't ready to admit it yet at the time, but I started to like him a little more.

The next day, he showed up unexpectedly at my work for a surprise photoshoot and he was being so ridiculously kind to me. The way he was looking at me… How was I supposed to hate him after that? And what can I say about the night in California, where we both fell asleep, watching our favorite movie. After that, we became friends. I should even say best friend. We were seeing each other every time we were able to and we were having a blast. I was his confidant and he was mine.

Then, he invited me to his sister's wedding. That was when everything changed for us. Maybe I should've said no when he asked me. The moment we slept together, everything changed. We were fuck buddies for a while, up until he declared his love for me. I had no other choice but to admit out loud that I was in love with him as well.

For the first time in my life, I was genuinely happy and I had to fuck up everything. Why? Why was I always screwing up my life like that?

"We're here." said the cab driver, getting me out of my thoughts.

As soon as he pulled over, I paid him more than what I owed him, jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. I was about to enter when I felt a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to stop.

"Excuse me." said one of the security guards. "I need to see your ticket."

I froze for a second. I didn't have any ticket. This couldn't be happening. I had to get inside. I had to see Seth and I had to see him right now. This couldn't wait anymore. My heart was shattering to pieces as I remembered about the pass Felix had given me. I mentally thanked my best friend as I showed my ID card to the guard.

"You're a journalist?" he said as his eyes went up and down on me.

I couldn't blame him. I looked like nothing. In fact, I looked like crap, just like Dean had told me in the morning. I hadn't slept in days and the dark circles around my eyes were a proof of that. The guard stepped aside, heaving a loud sigh. Thank God there was a picture on me on the ID card or he would never have let me in. Once I was inside, I realized that the crowd was a lot bigger than I expected. Among all the WWE fans, there were journalists, youtubers and social media specialists. It was one hell of a circus in there and for a moment, I was scared that I wouldn't find Seth in all this mess. I spotted a familiar face and immediately to join that person.

"Roman!" I yelled, waving my hand so he could spot me.

"Ali?" he said, confused. "Are you OK? You look…"

"Like crap… I know… Dean told me…" I said, trying to catch my breath.

"When was the last time you slept?"

"Probably when I was still in Davenport… two weeks ago." I let out.

Roman looked at me with concern painted all over his face.

"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't covering those kinds of events anymore."

"I'm not. I'm here to see Seth."

The big man looked at me with a big smile on his face. He pointed Seth to me and it was now my turn to smile. He was being interviewed by Mandy, the girl who was working for my dad's magazine and I could tell that he was giving her a hard time. He was back to being Seth Freaking Rollins, the arrogant asshole I met a little less than a year ago. Just like he did with me when I interviewed him the first time. I thank Roman and gave him a big hug. People around us started whispering but I didn't care. The only thing that mattered was Seth.

"Go." Roman told me.

I didn't need him to say it twice as I immediately started walking toward Seth. He was so focused on being an asshole to Mandy that he did not see me coming. She did though and the confusion on her face was priceless. I was the last person she expected to see. I could tell by the way she was acting that she was trying to seduce him. At one point in my life, it would have bothered me. I would have been so mad and jealous but I wasn't insecure anymore. Seth had the chance to move on when I dumped him and he didn't. That thought alone gave me the power to overcome Mandy's provocation.

"What are you doing here?" she said, interrupting her interview.

Seth turned around, curious about whom she had said that to. His eyes widened when they lay on me.

"What…"

My lips crashed onto his before he could say more. I wrapped my arms around his neck but Seth was so caught up by surprise that he just stood there, doing nothing. It took him a couple of seconds before he finally realized what was going on. A part of me was scared that he was going to push me away, but all my fears disappeared when I felt his big arms around my waist. He brought me closer without breaking the kiss as his tongue found mine. Mandy mumbled something but I couldn't get it. I was so focused on my man and I did not care at all what she had to say.

"You were supposed to wait for me…" he whispered between two kisses.

"Couldn't."

"I thought you said we needed to talk."

"We can talk later." I said with a big smile on my face.

People were gathering around us. I could hear their whispers but again, I didn't care. I almost lost him forever because I cared too much about what others might think or say about us. Not anymore. I made that big mistake once in my life and there was no way in hell I'd do it again. We still needed to talk, but for now, I just needed to be in his arms. Seth laughed and kissed me again. I wanted this moment to last forever. In my mind, there was only us and I would've loved to be far away from this circus that was WWE but this was his life. I chose to accept it when I decided to show up here and kiss the shit out of him in front of everybody.

"Seth, is that your new girlfriend?" asked one of the journalists.

"I think it's that girl social media talked about." said a fan.

"Is that Alison?"

"Is that the girl with drinking problems?"

"Who is she?"

"Is that your ex?"

"Seth! Seth! Seth!" yelled a bunch of people around us.

Seth was about to lose it and I could tell how mad he was. I put my hand on his mouth to forbid him to say something he might regret. I was the one who needed to answer all those questions. I was the one who caused all this chaos and I was about to make things right. For him and for me.

"Yes, I am Alison." I started. "Yes, I am the girl social media talked about and yes, I am his ex-girlfriend."

Everyone was looking at me with wide eyes. Some of them were noting things in a notebook and others had their cellphone pointed at me. I had to be careful about what I was saying, I didn't want to get Seth in trouble.

"Now, if someone wants the real story about my past and my 'drinking problem', I'd be happy to give an exclusive interview." I added. "So… who wants to know how Seth and I met?"

People around us were fighting to get closer to me. They all wanted that exclusive story.

"Not now though." Seth said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

He had that big smile on his face and I could tell how proud he was of me. All the fans and journalists protested but Seth shut them up.

"Now we have important things to take care of." he added as he winked at me. "We will contact you tomorrow to schedule an interview."

He said goodbye to everyone and reassured the fans that he would be back later for the signing.

"Excuse me, Seth." Mandy said. "I wasn't done with the interview."

"Yeah. You were." Seth said with his most arrogant tone. "Believe me."

With that being said, he led me outside the building.

"You're such an asshole." I said, laughing.

"Isn't that how I seduced you in the first place?"

I was about to deny it, but the more I thought about it, the more I had to admit that he was probably right.

***

**Months later...**

Seth and I had a lot to talk about and that was exactly what we did that night. Well, we did a lot more, but that's gonna stay between us. We talked about us, about the other girl, about our future together and about his job. We were both a little bit scared of the consequences our little show could have on his career, but we chose to ignore it. We were ready for anything. Together, we were so strong and nothing could ever tear us apart. Seth was ready to face his boss. If they had a problem with me, so be it. He would give up anything they would ask him to. When he told me this, I almost second guessed everything. For a moment, I was back to a couple months ago, when he first told me that his boss wanted to take the championship away from him. After I had taken a deep breath in, everything was fine.

I kept my promise. The day after Seth and I reunited, I scheduled an interview with one of the most important magazines in sports entertainment history. At first, I wanted to give the opportunity to my dad, but I changed my mind. He would have to work a lot harder to have me back in his life. We talked a bit after my interview went out public and things were kind of good between us. Not great, just good. I was still mad at him for the way he handled things, but I found a way to forgive him. We are slowly working things through with Felix's help.

Speaking of Felix, he was a bit disappointed that I didn't choose him for the interview, but he understood why. At least he wasn't mad at me. He even told me multiple times how proud he was of what I did. He also said that he was glad that I wouldn't be sexually frustrated anymore.

A couple of weeks after the interview was published, Seth introduced me to Hunter and Stephanie. He thought it would help if they met me. Honestly, I think it did. They were very nice to me and they actually apologized for threatening Seth. They even told him that I seemed like a good girl after all. I couldn't ask for more coming from them.

Roman was genuinely happy for us. He wasn't mad that Seth had lied about our breakup, although he said he would've liked to know the truth. He said he understood and that was such a relief for Seth. He was concerned about how his big brother would react and knowing that everything was fine made him so happy.

As for Dean, he was the first to congratulate us for acting like adults. I wanted to punch him in the face when he said that, but I chose not to. Dean was Dean. He wasn't going to change. I was getting used to him and his stupid face. After all, I owed him one for helping me get Seth back so I had no choice but to tolerate him and to be honest, he wasn't that bad. We actually had a lot more in common than we thought and it was always so much fun to team against Seth. Especially when we were talking shit about Catherine.

I moved back to Seth's house in Orlando. At first, he asked me if I wanted to go back to Davenport with him, but I didn't want to be too far away from Felix. He still had to be on the road for about three hundred days a year and I needed my best friend by my side to keep me sane while he was gone. We tried to visit his family as much as we could though so we went to Iowa a lot of time. Every time I stepped foot into his house, I had this weird feeling. So much have happened there. I sometimes get sad when I think about all we went through over the past year or so, but then I look into his beautiful eyes and everything is fine. Everything is perfect.

"Seth Rollins is an asshole." Those were my exact thoughts the first time I met him. I hated him. I wanted to punch his stupid cocky face. But I love him. So much that it hurt sometimes. He might be an asshole, but he was mine and this time, I would not let him slip through my fingers. I have my claws into his skin and he is stuck with me for a long time.

_**The end...** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - This is it. This was the final chapter, the ending of a beautiful story.
> 
> There is a part of me that is very happy that it's finally done, but there's that other part that wants to cry. I hate to say goodbye to Ali. I loved her with all my heart. She made me laugh and cry... At first, it wasn't supposed to be that long, but apparently, I got caught up in this. I will miss Felix too. That amazing caring best friend. I wish I had a Felix in my life... I can't believe I've been working on this for almost a year... I am sorry that I took so long to finish it. The pregnancy hit me a lot harder than I thought. I promised you that I would finish it, and I did. The story is exactly how I pictured it. A little less than a year ago, I'd spent all my nights thinking about it and it came out exactly as I wanted too.
> 
> I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you. I never thought this story would receive that amount of love from you guys. To all my reviewers: thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'd like to personally thank each of you, but I'm too scared to forget someone. I loved reading you guys probably as much as you loved reading the story. It's what gave me the strength to go on and finish it. I know there's a lot of mistakes in there, english is not my first language, but I'm so happy that you could all get passed that and tell me how amazing I am. It means the world to me.
> 
> This might be the end of More than meets the eye, but it's not the end of me. This is not goodbye ! I'm already working on another story with another amazing character...
> 
> There's always something more to say. Follow me if you want to get notified when it'll be ready! In the meantime, I have a lot of other stories you might like... go on and read them ;) Love you Love you Love you xxx (I'm not crying, you are)


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